Winkelman would be willing to break Dons' transfer record for Healey's replacement

MK Dons are willing to break their transfer record to find a replacement for Rhys Healey before the transfer window closes.

Chairman Pete Winkelman said the money earned from the sale of last season's top scorer to French side Toulouse will help them seek out a new centre forward before business is wrapped up in the middle of October.

Dons' current record is understood to be around £250,000 for Kieran Agard from Bristol City in 2016, with Alex Gilbey's transfer from Wigan around a similar fee a season later.

But after securing a significant sum from the French side for Healey's services, Dons have been able to go after bigger transfer targets and though none of their bids have yet been accepted, Winkelman says the club are able to go after more expensive targets than ever before.

He said: "Would I break our transfer record in Covid to sign a player? I would. But if that doesn't land the player, it doesn't mean I'll spend more money. I have to react to anything that happens before the end of the window, and to be able to say yes to Russ as much as possible, but I cannot say yes to everything.

"We're making bids, and we've made pretty big bids but they won't be ridiculous.

"One player we've gone seriously after, we've not been successful with it yet and I've reached my limit. If there are other players similar, we'll go for those too. And then there's the loan market but the best of those will come up right at the end of the window so we have to keep our bottle.

"It's not that long between the middle of October and January. But if the right player comes up, the first thing I want to say to Russ is yes. We can be a bit more aggressive then we've previously been though."