WANDERERS will have to shell out around £300,000 to sign striker Lee Bonis, according to reports in Belfast.

The Northern Irish striker, recently drafted into the international squad, has been linked with a move to England this summer.

Bolton, Derby County, Portsmouth, Birmingham City and Wigan Athletic have all been mentioned as potential suitors, with Scottish Premiership side Hibs added to the list this week.

Bonis scored 15 times in 16 appearances for Larne this season following a £100,000 move from Portadown and speculation across the Irish Sea suggests it will take three times that amount to convince the club to sell him on.

The 23-year-old says he won’t let reports of a move distract him, and that he was given some sound advice on the subject by his club boss Tiernan Lynch.

“Tiernan said to me just play your football. Everything will work around you. If I just keep playing my football I’ll be fine,” he added.

Wanderers had success last season signing Eoin Toal from Derry and are keeping a close eye on young talents in the League of Ireland.

Former striker Eoin Doyle, who still plays with St Patrick’s Athletic, is known to be helping Ian Evatt identify potential bargains.

Bonis hopes to make his international bow this week with Northern Ireland set to face Denmark in Copenhagen and then returning to Windsor Park to play Kazakhstan in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

The step up in quality from club life with Larne has taken some getting used to for the young striker.

"The first time coming in seeing them I was a bit taken aback but like everybody else you're here to play football,” he said.

"They're all sound boys, they all get on with you and help you as much as they can.

"My family were delighted for me because they knew I always wanted to play for my country.

"But they're not even asking how I am, they're asking how everybody else is. 'What's Jonny (Evans) like? What's Craig (Cathcart) like?' But they're all happy for me.

"It's a big, massive step. In the past couple of weeks I've learned a lot.

"The first training camp was tough because the speed of the players compared to the Irish League is a lot different.

"The first game we played I had to sort of read the game a wee bit more to see what was going to happen, then I realised 'He does this, he does that' so I'm going to try and fit it into my game and see what I can do differently.

"It would be a dream come true (to play), wouldn’t it? Every young boy wants to play for their country if they can. If I can get five minutes, 10 minutes, I'll be happy enough."