Albion manager Gus Poyet is pondering a possible loan swoop for Sunderland misfit David Healy.

He has dampened reports linking the Seagulls with Healy but has also refused to rule out making a move in the future for Northern Ireland’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Poyet has made no secret of his desire for a genuine goalscorer to boost table-topping Albion’s League One promotion challenge.

The Uruguayan has a long list of targets and has played down speculation suggesting a deal for Healy is imminent after working with the 31-year-old at Leeds.

Poyet told The Argus: “I think people put two and two together – a player who is not playing, who was playing with Northern Ireland and we have been talking about a striker.

“I just feel sorry for Sunderland and for David, because it is not fair for them both that his name has come up without us even moving for him.

“It’s a great shout. I absolutely love him as a player and a person and I have a great relationship with him. Is this going to make us get in touch with Sunderland or David? I don’t know, I hope so, but he wasn’t in our plans.

“With all respect to him, we have got another ten or 15 names. We have gone through all the names of players not playing in the Premier League where you think you won’t have a chance, then you go down to the Championship and then you try to find out.

“We are trying to find out in a very respectful way, talking to the club first to see if it is an option, then talking to the player. This one has come out of the blue and everybody is calling me.

“Even people from Leeds are saying to take him and I am thinking wait, I haven’t moved for him. We’ll see, I would love to, no doubt.”

Healy's career has nosedived since a golden period for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, when he scored a winning goal against England, a hat-trick against Spain and struck a record 13 goals in their European Championship qualifying campaign.

He has gone two years without a goal for his country and was dropped to the bench for Tuesday’s embarrassing 1-1 draw away to the Faroe Islands.

Healy’s waning international fortunes have been mirrored at club level. He has never started a league game for Sunderland since a £1million move from Fulham in August 2008 and has not played a full game since early March during a loan spell at Ipswich, where he scored his only goal in the last 20 months.

Poyet may be tempted into a bid to re-ignite Healy’s career, although his £20,000-a-week wages could be a stumbling block.

Albion are also likely to face competition from Championship clubs like Doncaster and Nottingham Forest for the former Manchester United trainee, who has never played below the top two divisions.

Poyet added: “He’s a kind of player we would like, very good in front of goal and a real goalscorer. He is also good around the box and at the moment we do not have this type of player.

“However, David is in the Premier League. If we were interested we cannot just expect him to come down two divisions and play for us because of me, the stadium, or our position in the table.”