• 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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