Chris Lakey Norwich City could be in the market for Rochdale striker Chris Dagnall, according to reports.Dagnall's 12 goals have taken Rochdale to the top of League Two and, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the 23-year-old is attracting admiring glances, with Coca-Cola Championship strugglers Peterborough also said to be interested.

Chris Lakey

Norwich City could be in the market for Rochdale striker Chris Dagnall, according to reports.

Dagnall's 12 goals have taken Rochdale to the top of League Two and, with his contract due to expire at the end of the season, the 23-year-old is attracting admiring glances, with Coca-Cola Championship strugglers Peterborough also said to be interested.

The asking price in the January transfer market is likely to be around the �150,000 mark, although City do have bait in the shape of out-of-favour winger Simon Whaley.

Whaley, currently on loan at Bradford, spent two months on loan at Rochdale and might still be there had the Lancshire club been able to afford to extend his stay.

Dagnall - who played against City in a League Cup tie in August 2007 - is just 5ft 8in tall, and the link immediately put a question mark over the Carrow Road future of Jamie Cureton.

The veteran striker hasn't made a league appearance since the home win over Swindon on October 24, taking a back seat behind leading scorer Grant Holt and Chris Martin.

But he has also been omitted from the seven-strong bench for the last five league and cup games, raising questions about his immediate future.

The 34-year-old has been linked with Lincoln, but while City boss Paul Lambert has expressed his reluctance to allow Cureton to leave, the link with Dagnall suggests he may have a replacement in mind.

Cureton's contract expires next summer so he, like Dagnall, is free to begin talks with other clubs in the new year - and last summer admitted that at this late stage of his career, playing was his number one priority. If he can't get minutes at Carrow Road, he may be tempted to move on.

Likewise Paul McVeigh, whose last league appearance was also against Swindon. He has started just four league games, and last weekend lost his usual place on the bench.

Lambert's team building plans took a major step forward a fortnight ago when he brought in right back Russell Martin, from Peterborough, and Anthony McNamee, from Swindon, on loan, taking the number of "usable" professionals to workable levels.

The deal for McNamee is expected to be made permanent in January, when the break-up of the old guard could begin - especially after chief executive David McNally's admission this week that while there is no need to sell the star players, some of the fringe players may leave.