Swindon not giving up on Bradford's Eoin Doyle returning despite identifying Portsmouth striker Brett Pitman as his replacement

Richie Wellens admits he wants Eoin Doyle back at Swindon despite identifying Brett Pitman as his replacement.
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Doyle was recalled by parent-club Bradford on Wednesday after netted 23 times in 26 games while on loan at the County Ground during the first half of the season.

The Irishman’s prolific scoring propelled Swindon to the summit of the League Two table.

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The Pompey striker has fallen out-of-favour at Fratton Park and was left out of the squad for Tuesday's 2-1 EFL Trophy win over Walsall.

Even still, Swindon haven’t given up on prising Doyle back from their promotion rivals.

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Should they succeed, they’d likely end their interest in Pitman.

Eoin Doyle, left, and Brett Pitman.Eoin Doyle, left, and Brett Pitman.
Eoin Doyle, left, and Brett Pitman.

Wellens told the Swindon Advertiser: ‘Is the club making an active attempt to get Eoin back? Let’s just wait and see.

‘We want the player back. He’s Bradford’s player, he’s gone back - we’ll see what develops from there.

‘It is just where we’re at in terms of our finances that means we have to take loan players and then you run the risk of players being recalled.

‘We will see what happens in terms of getting Doyle back.

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‘Eoin has come out and said where he wants to be, how he feels.

‘So we’ll just see what happens over the next couple of days, maybe the next week and then we’ll go from there.’

Pitman has scored 41 goals in 99 appearances for Pompey since arriving from Ipswich for an undisclosed fee in July 2017.

Plymouth were also linked with a move for the ex-Bournemouth man, but manager Ryan Lowe conceded he'd be too expensive.

The Pilgrims instead signed Ryan Hardie from Blackpool last night.

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