HARTLEPOOL UNITED have received a bid from Luton Town for the club's prize asset Adam Boyd.

At a time when manager Martin Scott was boosted by the news that Aussie forward Joel Porter has finally returned to first team training, Pool are having to contend with the distraction of Luton's bid.

The Hatters, managed by former Victoria Park boss Mike Newell, have made the move for one of the Football League's hottest talents despite the forward being still out through injury.

But, regardless of Boyd's injury, Newell feels the knee ligament problem that has kept him out of action since September 3 will not affect his goalscoring ability.

Having received almost £3m from the sale of defender Curtis Davies to West Brom in the summer, the Luton board have told the boss that cash is available for fresh faces.

Newell has earmarked Pool's young protg as the perfect man to help lift his side back into a Championship play-off spot, having dropped to within three points of the top six in recent weeks.

"There is money there but it is not millions and I won't just bring faces in for the sake of it," said Newell, who faces competition from Cardiff and Leeds.

"What we will do is bring young players in to strengthen n the squad to help us in the future."

The Pool squad, still shy of Boyd, set off for their League One clash at Yeovil today and know all too well how much they have missed their front-man this season.

Pool's leading scorers this season - Eifion Williams and Antony Sweeney - have only managed five goals each and Boyd's availability would certainly have influenced the club's league position.

He scored 29 times in the push to the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium last May and Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy is one of a number of managers to have tracked him over the past 12 months.

This season he scored twice in his first eight appearances before suffering the knee injury in an accidental collision with Yeovil keeper Chris Weale on September 3.

During Newell's reign at Pool, Boyd made just six starts but was always highly regarded by the former Blackburn Rovers centre-forward.

Luton's bid for Boyd has arrived at a time when his strike-partner last season, Porter, has rejoined his team-mates on the training field for the first time.

He has not played since the play-off final defeat to Sheffield Wednesday with knee trouble.

Porter found the net 16 times last season and the absence of his pairing with Boyd has resulted in Pool failing to find any sort of consistency this time around.

Pool head to the west country today eight points shy of the play-offs and are sitting five points above a relegation spot - a sign of the tightness of League One.

And Scott said: "Joel is now in a mini-preseason with us if you like. He will be working harder than the others to catch up fitness wise. ''

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