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Joe Riley and Tom Eaves have entered the second chance saloon at Wanderers.
Neil Lennon has welcomed the pair back from loan spells at Oxford United and Yeovil Town, respectively, and pledged to take a close look at whether they can force their way into his first-team plans.
By the manager's own admission, he knows little about Riley – who was already out at the Kassam Stadium on his arrival in October – but he is keen to see whether the specialist full-back could save him some money in the transfer window.
Eaves was re-integrated with the first team on Lennon’s first day in charge but loaned out to Yeovil just over a month later.
The striker had been on the verge of leaving Wanderers and had a move to MK Dons lined-up in the final weeks of Dougie Freedman’s tenure, but Lennon insists he is open to Eaves challenging the likes of Craig Davies, Emile Heskey and Conor Wilkinson for a place up front.
Eaves cost £1million as a teenager from Oldham Athletic in 2010 but has spent most of the last three years out on loan in Leagues One and Two.
Lennon is not currently regarding the Aintree-born front man as one of the players he is looking to move on permanently.
“It’s a bit early for me to say that because since I have been here I’ve only seen him for two or three weeks,” he told The Bolton News.
“We’ll have a good look at him in this January window and if we feel it’s in his best interest to move him on then we’ll try to create options for him, the flip side of that coin is we might keep him.”
Riley’s spell at Oxford United has been a huge success, with Michael Appleton’s side keen to take him again at the end of the month.
They have a rival in League One Scunthorpe United, managed by Mark Robins, but Lennon is reserving judgment on the academy graduate until he has seen him in action.
“We want to have a good look at Joe,” he said. “I have not seen him, though I have seen Tom so we want to see him for a couple of weeks.
“There is interest in both Joe and Tom; there is an interest in a number of our players.
“You worry that you leave yourself short but if not it might be good experience for them to go and play somewhere else.”
Riley impressed at Wanderers during pre-season as he felt his way back from almost two years out through injury, but has shown remarkable durability during his spell with the U's, stringing 28 consecutive games together.
Still only 23, it is hoped he can return to the kind of form that saw him burst into Owen Coyle’s side as a teenager at full-back and feature in the Premier League.
But Appleton is holding out hope he can tempt him back to Oxford with the lure of regular football.
“There's a lot of interest as you'd imagine from other clubs and we're still speaking to Bolton on a daily basis to see where we're at,” he said.
“They wanted to have a little look at Joe, they have a new manager in place and you'd expect that anyway.”
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Neil Lennon has welcomed the pair back from loan spells at Oxford United and Yeovil Town, respectively, and pledged to take a close look at whether they can force their way into his first-team plans.
By the manager's own admission, he knows little about Riley – who was already out at the Kassam Stadium on his arrival in October – but he is keen to see whether the specialist full-back could save him some money in the transfer window.
Eaves was re-integrated with the first team on Lennon’s first day in charge but loaned out to Yeovil just over a month later.
The striker had been on the verge of leaving Wanderers and had a move to MK Dons lined-up in the final weeks of Dougie Freedman’s tenure, but Lennon insists he is open to Eaves challenging the likes of Craig Davies, Emile Heskey and Conor Wilkinson for a place up front.
Eaves cost £1million as a teenager from Oldham Athletic in 2010 but has spent most of the last three years out on loan in Leagues One and Two.
Lennon is not currently regarding the Aintree-born front man as one of the players he is looking to move on permanently.
“It’s a bit early for me to say that because since I have been here I’ve only seen him for two or three weeks,” he told The Bolton News.
“We’ll have a good look at him in this January window and if we feel it’s in his best interest to move him on then we’ll try to create options for him, the flip side of that coin is we might keep him.”
Riley’s spell at Oxford United has been a huge success, with Michael Appleton’s side keen to take him again at the end of the month.
They have a rival in League One Scunthorpe United, managed by Mark Robins, but Lennon is reserving judgment on the academy graduate until he has seen him in action.
“We want to have a good look at Joe,” he said. “I have not seen him, though I have seen Tom so we want to see him for a couple of weeks.
“There is interest in both Joe and Tom; there is an interest in a number of our players.
“You worry that you leave yourself short but if not it might be good experience for them to go and play somewhere else.”
Riley impressed at Wanderers during pre-season as he felt his way back from almost two years out through injury, but has shown remarkable durability during his spell with the U's, stringing 28 consecutive games together.
Still only 23, it is hoped he can return to the kind of form that saw him burst into Owen Coyle’s side as a teenager at full-back and feature in the Premier League.
But Appleton is holding out hope he can tempt him back to Oxford with the lure of regular football.
“There's a lot of interest as you'd imagine from other clubs and we're still speaking to Bolton on a daily basis to see where we're at,” he said.
“They wanted to have a little look at Joe, they have a new manager in place and you'd expect that anyway.”
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