HULL City have reopened talks with Celtic over a possible deal to bring striker Gary Hooper to the KC Stadium.
It come as the Scottish giants, who rejected an initial £4m bid from the Tigers earlier this month, appear to be weakening in their resolve over the striker's value.
The Hoops initially insisted a fee of no less than £7m would be needed to prise the 25-year-old away from Parkhead.
It was a figure which saw the Tigers walk away from negotiations, but with only Championship sides Nottingham Forest and Reading making serious enquiries since, and City able to offer the Premier League football Hooper craves, a move to the KC could finally be on the cards.
With Hooper entering the final year of his contract and Celtic knowing he is unlikely to agree to a new deal, it is they who are understood to have moved to re-ignite the Tigers deal.
Unwilling to see the value of a player who has bagged an incredible 82 goals in 137 games depreciate, as he would be a free agent in 12 months time, they have asked to talk again over a possible price.
City's vice-chairman Ehab Allam and managing director Nick Thompson have already made it clear they are unwilling to pay over the odds for players, and with that in mind, are unlikely to raise their offer too much from the initial £4m.
However, the Tigers are now confident they are in a strong position to get the deal done with the player wanting the chance to prove himself in the top flight of English football.
Whilst City's stance has brought progress on Hooper, it has also currently brought a stalemate with Burnley over Charlie Austin.
The Tigers remain willing to spend around £4m to bring him to the KC Stadium – even possibly in addition to Hooper – but are not prepared to match Burnley's asking price, which is now believed to be as high as £5m.
City's positive progress on Hooper comes as they move closer to completing the signing of defender Curtis Davies, as he held talks over a three-year deal at the KC yesterday.
Davies, who has made over 300 career appearances with spells also at Luton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Leicester, will join from Birmingham in a £2.25m deal.
Adding to the capture of former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa last week, and with new deals for both James Chester and Liam Rosenior expected to be announced, manager Steve Bruce will be happy with the improvements made so far at the back.
It comes as winger Ahmed Elmohamady is expected to follow George Boyd by converting his loan spell from last season into a full-term deal this week, and as talks with Scotland keeper Allan McGregor over his £1.8m move from Besiktas continue to progress towards an agreement.
City continue to be linked with a move for Belgian international striker Ilombe Mboyo.
Bruce identified him as an alternative to Austin, although City would certainly not be willing to meet the £6m fee being touted by his club side Gent.
The city board are also known to be concerned over how any move for Mboyo may be received by fans, given he served three years in prison from the age of 16 for his part in a gang rape of a 14-year-old child.
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