• Wolves manager admits Austrian striker is up for sale
• Former Rapid Vienna player signed for £1.8m last summer

The Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy has confirmed that the Austria striker Stefan Maierhofer will leave the club after only one season.

The 27-year-old made the switch to Molineux last summer on a three-year contract from Rapid Vienna for an initial £1.8 million fee.

Maierhofer had scored 27 goals during the 2008-2009 campaign for his club and forced his way into the Austrian national team, but he failed to make an impact at Wolves and has been told he can leave.

Maierhofer managed just one goal for the club before he suffered a hernia problem, and had slipped out of first-team contention by the time he returned to fitness in the new year.

He spent a month on loan at Bristol City, following in the footsteps of Chris Iwelumo who also had a temporary spell at Ashton Gate.

McCarthy said: “Stefan is for sale. He is, yes. I tell the players if they can go and then I guess they tell their agents who go and drum up a bit of business, and get the business done. There is a bit of interest in Stefan from abroad.”

Maierhofer found himself behind the likes of Kevin Doyle, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Iwelumo, and the arrival this summer of Steven Fletcher from Burnley meant a parting of ways was almost inevitable.

Wolverhampton WanderersTransfer windowguardian.co.uk

• Mick McCarthy admits he may not move for defender
• Chelsea unsure whether to keep hold of 22-year-old

The Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Mick McCarthy may abandon his attempt to sign the Chelsea utility player Michael Mancienne.

McCarthy wants to make the 22-year-old his sixth signing of the summer after he spent last season on loan at Molineux. But Chelsea are keeping Wolves waiting over whether they are prepared to let Mancienne go – either permanently or for another loan period.

And McCarthy is concerned that he may miss out on other potential targets and is already being linked with the St Etienne midfielder Guirane N’Daw.

McCarthy, who has been working at the World Cup as a columnist for the Guardian, said: “I’ve been asked about Michael Mancienne, but we’ve done business and signed a centre-half in Steven Mouyokolo.

“I can’t hang around waiting for decisions to be made that might be negative ones. I could lose the ones that I’ve been looking at so I don’t know what will happen with that one [Mancienne].

“There might be more signings and we’re still looking.”

Mancienne had an initial loan period at Wolves when helping them gain promotion from the Coca Cola Championship 14 months ago.

He was brought in as a central defender but the form of Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra meant he was then employed in a holding midfield role during the second half of last season.

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