Incomings

Another season in the Championship has drawn to another unsatisfying close. We were relegated to the Championship two years ago, and have yet to properly challenge for promotion- the closest we came was almost finishing in the play-offs last season. At the time of writing this, our list of released players is due out tomorrow. This has got me thinking about possible new arrivals at the club. I know we don’t have much to spend, but with high wage earners like Chris Eagles looking likely to move on-we’ll have something to work with.

Lukas Jutkiewicz joined us at the end of January, and has made a great impact at the club and fans have really taken to him. He’s strong, with characteristics reminding fans of Super Kevin Davies, however he is also very accomplished on the ball. He’s got a decent number of goals during his time at the club- remember that several of his appearances have come off the bench, and a big part of his game is to bring in other strikers. Middlesborough are reportedly holding out for 2 million pounds, a fee which we probably can’t afford given our current finances. However if we were to offload some of our most valuable players, e.g. Lee or Davies we might have a chance. On seeing him come on and score against Birmingham was enough for me to say that the club should do everything in it’s power to sign him. There was one moment in the match were he towered over 6 ft 8 Nikola Zigic to win a header- picked up a bit of a knock as a result- but still hobbled up to head another ball away. Minutes later, he scored at the other end. The fighting spirit he showed has been lacking from Bolton over recent years and all the effort he puts in is second to none. I don’t know whether we can or will sign him, but I seriously hope we do.

Liam Trotter joined on loan on January deadline day, and has struggled to win over the Whites faithful. He at times has looked a bit clumsy, and is disappointing in the air for someone of his height. Initially played as an attacking midfielder, Dougie brought him back to play in a holding role along side Jay Spearing. He has found more success in this position. His performances have been improving steadily, and his goal against Sheffield Wednesday was nothing sort of brilliant. He is out of contract in the Summer, and can’t be on huge wages. He’s relatively young at 25, and I’m really not too sure whether we should sign him, to be honest. He’d be decent back-up for Medo and Spearing.

Craig Dawson is another former loanee- he played with us for the second half of last season and ever since his loan ended he’s been linked with a return to the Reebok/Macron. The situation with him seems to keep changing with Pepe Mel saying he’s available to sign, then he’s the ‘Future of West Brom’ despite not playing much and being 23 years old. He’s been featuring in recent weeks, but despite this he has been once again linked with a move to Bolton. He was a big hit with the fans when at the club, but unfortunately I’m not sure we’ll be able to sign him, especially with West Brom looking likely to stay up in the Premier League.

Joe Mason, enjoyed two loan spells at Bolton this season- the second being more prolific. He’s quick and also a very good finisher. His playing style is similar to Dougie Freedman back in the day, and current whites striker Jermaine Beckford. With Cardiff being relegated today, they may have to offload players. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was apparently ready to sell the former Plymouth striker in January, but would be holding out for a relatively sizeable bid, thought to be in the region of about 2 million pounds again, which is, as I said before, a stretch for Bolton.

There are a few other players being linked with a move to Bolton, and new signing could well be revealed as early as next week. We’ll have to see.

We’ve already secured Neil Danns permanently, who else do you think we should add to the club? Leave your thoughts below.

Written by Nicky Crompton.

Mr Ecky sends his best to the Vital Bolton community, he’s currently not well, he’ll be back as soon as possible and in the meantime, he’s got a staff writer to fill in for him.

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