TONY PULIS thinks the transfer market is about to hot up and Middlesbrough could soon be looking to swap one striker for another.

The Boro boss is likely to be open to the idea of selling Britt Assombalonga if the right offer comes along and it has emerged he is keen on Burnley’s Sam Vokes.

The Clarets have attacking targets in mind this summer and Vokes had already fallen out of the starting line-up behind Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes.

The 6ft 2ins front-man scored four goals in his 32 appearances last season to contribute to Burnley’s charge to a Europa League spot.

There is no shortage of clubs keen on him either, although if he accepts he might have to drop out of the Premier League then being part of Middlesbrough’s promotion charge would appeal.

Pulis has not brought in his own striker since taking over from Garry Monk and had to work with Assombalonga, Patrick Bamford and Rudy Gestede last season.

The potential for Assombalonga to leave his high, although the £15m price-tag has been enough to put second tier teams off so far.

Birmingham City, now managed by Monk, is interested in working with the former Nottingham Forest man again but they will not be looking to pay anywhere near that figure.

That will be the problem for the majority of teams in the Championship, with the exception of those relegated from the top-flight in May having sizeable budgets to still play with.

Swansea are known to be one of those interested and an Assombalonga move would help Pulis’ own push to add to his squad.

The Middlesbrough manager has added Paddy McNair and Aden Flint so far from Sunderland and Bristol City. He wants to attract more to Teesside.

The former West Brom boss has been linked with a number of other players so far this summer, including Joe Bryan, James Morrison and Martyn Waghorn.

And Pulis thinks that the summer window will soon hot up again once the Premier League clubs step up their recruitment efforts.

He said: “We’ll see where we go, teams are just coming back now. Premier League clubs are the ones that start the market off, once they’re back and start spending the market seems to bubble so we’ll see what happens.”

Middlesbrough will be playing their first pre-season friendly of the summer on North-East soil on Tuesday night. They make the short trip to National League North side Spennymoor Town, at Brewery Field, on Tuesday (7.45pm).

The squad will then be flown to Germany on Friday for two more friendlies. They face German second tier side SV Sandhausen in Mindelheim on Saturday, July 14 (5.30pm), and the second fixture is still to be confirmed.