Hartlepool UNITED are looking to lure Hibernian striker Colin Nish to the club but have admitted defeat in an ambitious move for Lomana LuaLua – for now.

Nish will become a free agent when his contract at Easter Road expires on July 1 and has been courted by St Johnstone, who are interested in keeping him in the Scottish Premier League.

But the 6ft 3in front-man is aware of Hartlepool’s interest and Mick Wadsworth wants him to strengthen his attacking ranks at Victoria Park.

Nish, born in Musselburgh, turned 30 in March and fell out of contention following the arrivals of Ricardo Vaz Te and Akpo Sodje at Hibernian, when he was told he would not be receiving a new contract in April.

Wadsworth, who has already brought in forward James Poole, is on the look out for attacking reinforcements after releasing Armann Bjornsson, Michael Mackay and Denis Behan.

“We are working very hard and we are very, very hopeful of increasing our options on the striker front,” said Wadsworth, who surprised League One when he lured Nolberto Solano to Hartlepool.

“If we sign another player then people will be very pleased with what we do. There’s no doubt about that. Any player that we bring in, I do take a lot of care, I speak to a lot of people on top of my own knowledge of the players before I decide.

“We work hard at it and we have done our homework on the targets we have got. When we do something I am sure it will be very satisfactory.”

Wadsworth confirmed he has been in touch with former Newcastle United striker LuaLua about returning to the North-East.

The pair worked together at both St James’ Park and during Wadsworth’s time in charge of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the Hartlepool boss thinks the deal will not happen this summer.

LuaLua, 30, plays for Omonia in the Cyprus Premier League after a spell with Greek side Olympiacos after his time with Pompey and Newcastle.

But Wadsworth could try again at a later date. He said: “I have spoken to LuaLua. We mentioned it at the club. That’s not a lie and he is a good friend of mine.

“He wants to stay in Europe and he has a fantastic contract in Cyprus, money which is way beyond our level, but in the future, who knows.

“Lomana does want to come back to the North-East at some stage. We are good friends. I would love him to play for me again, he would like to play for me, you never know, in the future maybe.”

Wadsworth does have a younger alternative when he is selecting his forward line in League One next season after handing 18-year-old Callum Hassan his first professional contract.

And, on the night he handed out awards to a number of the club’s Centre of Excellence talents who were at the Hartlepool Schools FA’s player of the year awards, Wadsworth wants to keep producing homegrown prospects.

Whatever else happens between now and the start of the season on August 6, however, he is satisfied Pools look stronger than last time around.

“We have got young Callum in for next year and we have got very talented young players in the youth programme underneath him,” said Wadsworth. “We blooded a couple of young boys through last year, plus Andy Rafferty the goalkeeper.

“And in Adam Boyd, Colin Larkin, James Brown, Hassan, plus we would like to make another addition if we can, I’m sure we will be alright for options up front. We are working on that the whole time, so I think we will be better off than last year.”

* Wadsworth was a speaker at the Hartlepool SFA player of the year awards at the Hartlepool College of Further Education on Thursday. For a full list of winners, see next week’s Local Heroes.