Transfers

Bolton Sign Alonso From Real Madrid

Calm down, it’s not who you think. Bolton have signed 18 year old left back Marcos Alonso from Real Madrid for an undisclosed fee. The teenager is apparently quite talented but even Coyle admits he’s not ready to be a first choice yet.

Keeper Loaned to Wigan

Backup keeper Ali Al-Habsi has gone out to Wigan on a season’s long loan. While he will still be second choice at Athletic, given Wigan’s first choice keeper Chris Kirkland is apparently made out of balsa wood he will probably get more games than he will at Bolton. If Jaaskelainen should get an injury, Bolton can recall him on 48 hours notice.

Al-Habsi is a talented keeper and I’d always assumed would be in Bolton’s first team before now. Possibly the backroom staff though so too but Jaaskelainen has managed to pull off the admirable trick of being excellent (and almost ever present) for several years without any bigger clubs making a whopping offer for him; quite how he’s still at Bolton when, for example, Arsenal have been playing with Manuel Almunia as their first choice is a bit mind boggling. Given this is very much being talked of by the club as ‘a loan to get experience, not a loan with a view to sell’ it may well be he still is Bolton’s long term plan.

Bolton Sign Blake

Bolton have signed former Burnley player Robbie Blake, who was out of contract after leaving Turf Moor, on a one year contract.

Bolton Sign Petrov

Bolton have signed Martin Petrov on a free after the Bulgarian was released by Manchester City. Although recently troubled with injury, the pacey left winger has been very effective in the premiership up until now. A good signing, in my opinion.

January Signings

Bolton have brought two players in this week - Promising young winger Vladmir Weiss on loan form Manchester City and are considering offering a contract to Scot Stuart Holden, out of contract since leaving US side Houston Dynamo.

Nicky Hunt Off To Derby

Nicky Hunt is off to Derby County on a month’s loan. Seems an odd thing to do - you’d expect him to want to stick around and see if he can make a good impression on the new manager. Derby seem to think he can play centre half which strikes me as mad - he’ll break like a twig the first time he has to go for a header with a Championship centre forward.

Klasnic In

So Ivan Klasnic did arrive but only on a season’s loan. I haven’t heard of an ‘option to buy’ but I assume it’d be open to negotiation. Anyway, he’s a Croatian international striker with a decent record (11 goals in something like 35 appearances) and at least it’ll give us some choice up front and maybe bring some freshness to the team’s tactics.

Taylor and Davies Sign New Contracts

Kevin Davies and Matt Taylor have both signed contract extensions with The Wanderers. If they’ve got half an ounce of sense, they’ll have snuck in relegation release clauses while they’re at it.