TOWN have denied reports they have launched a bid for Sunderland striker Roy O’Donovan.

Carlisle chief executive John Nixon, who has made the 23-year-old Irishman an offer, claimed the Galpharm club are one of a number who have also contacted the player who shone on loan to Hartlepool last season.

But Town chief executive Nigel Clibbens responded: "That’s not the case. We have had no contact either with the player or his club."

Clibbens’ comments on O’Donovan, out of contract three years after he joined Sunderland from Cork City, come as Town continue to be linked with Lee Carsley.

Sources suggest the club are among those contacted by the agent of the 36-year-old Republic of Ireland midfielder, who is out of contract after two seasons with Birmingham.

Carsley started out at Derby and played for Blackburn and Coventry before a six-year stint at Everton.

Town, of course, have already signed two midfielders, Burnley’s Joey Gudjonsson and Falkirk’s Scott Arfield, as well as Sheffield United left-back Gary Naysmith.

Meanwhile, left-back Joe Skarz and winger Lionel Ainsworth – among seven current Town players available for transfer – could be on their way to Shrewsbury.

Skarz, 20, played 20 games on loan at the League II club last season, while their new manager Graham Turner took Ainsworth to Hereford from Derby when he was manager at Edgar Street.

Turner, who also brought the 22-year-old back to Hereford on loan after selling him to Watford for an undisclosed six-figure fee, has said he is keen to add pace to his squad.

Ainsworth joined Town in January 2009, but the form of Gary Roberts and Anthony Pilkington has limited him to 11 starts and 20 appearances from the bench, and he was loaned to Brentford last season.

While goalkeeper Simon Eastwood has joined Oxford, Clibbens said of Town’s other available players: "We’ve had some phone calls, but there’s nothing to report so far."