WIGAN Athletic boss Steve Bruce is tracking Wolves' England under-21 star Michael Kightly as a potential replacement for Antonio Valencia.

Bruce is resigned to losing Valencia at the end of the season, with United favourites to land the Ecuador international winger.

The search to find a ready-made replacement has already started, and Kightly is being closely monitored.

Wolves have Premier League aspirations themselves, and Kightly, valued at £6million, is under contract until 2012.

Bruce admits it has not been easy losing key players in January: "We have made far too many changes.

"Some of them were forced but with Kevin Kilbane, Emile Heskey, Ryan Taylor and Henri Camara, they were out of contract in the summer and we were faced with losing those assets anyway.

"We thought that changing things around would enable us to bring people in rather than lose the asset and the money.

"With the points we have already got we felt that it would benefit the club."

One boost is the return to full fitness of Erik Edman, who has been out for ten months with torn anterior cruciate ligaments.

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