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Ben Alnwick is backing Josh Cullen and Reece Burke to have a bigger impact at Bolton Wanderers if they secure a loan return from West Ham United.
Phil Parkinson is hopeful a deal can soon be agreed with David Moyes’ Hammers to bring the 21-year-old pair back to the Marcon Stadium for the second half of the season.
Alnwick believes securing their return would be a big step in Wanderers’ survival fight.
“It would be great to get them back because they fit in really well with the rest of the lads and you could see they were top drawer,” he told The Bolton News. “I don’t know what the situation is at the moment with West Ham – but we’d definitely be pleased to get them back on board because they are the right type for what we need.”
Cullen and Burke played together on just eight occasions, the last of which was the 1-0 win at Sheffield United.
Both fell out of favour after Wanderers struggled in the first few months of the campaign but Alnwick feels they will be stronger for the experience.
“To be honest we’d be walking off training and talking about how good these West Ham lads were but at the time it wasn’t the best environment for two young lads to be coming into a team,” he said.
“We were losing matches, confidence had maybe taken a knock. It felt a bit unfair.
“But as time has gone on, the morale has gone up and it feels a lot like it did last season.
“It isn’t by chance that they got back into the team and played well before Christmas – it was because they’d worked hard.”
Wanderers reported for training yesterday before being given a long weekend off to prepare for a tough run of fixtures against three of the current top six.
A televised game against Bristol City at home is followed by the visit of Fulham and a rescheduled midweek trip to Cardiff City.
Alnwick is confident Parkinson’s squad will be ready after recharging their batteries in the next few days.
“I’ll be having a little time off now back up in Newcastle,” he said. “I think the break has come at a good time for the lads because a lot of work went into the results we got over Christmas.
“We’re in a decent position and we deserved the results we got. I think we’ll all be ready when Bristol City comes around to go again and push on.”
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Phil Parkinson is hopeful a deal can soon be agreed with David Moyes’ Hammers to bring the 21-year-old pair back to the Marcon Stadium for the second half of the season.
Alnwick believes securing their return would be a big step in Wanderers’ survival fight.
“It would be great to get them back because they fit in really well with the rest of the lads and you could see they were top drawer,” he told The Bolton News. “I don’t know what the situation is at the moment with West Ham – but we’d definitely be pleased to get them back on board because they are the right type for what we need.”
Cullen and Burke played together on just eight occasions, the last of which was the 1-0 win at Sheffield United.
Both fell out of favour after Wanderers struggled in the first few months of the campaign but Alnwick feels they will be stronger for the experience.
“To be honest we’d be walking off training and talking about how good these West Ham lads were but at the time it wasn’t the best environment for two young lads to be coming into a team,” he said.
“We were losing matches, confidence had maybe taken a knock. It felt a bit unfair.
“But as time has gone on, the morale has gone up and it feels a lot like it did last season.
“It isn’t by chance that they got back into the team and played well before Christmas – it was because they’d worked hard.”
Wanderers reported for training yesterday before being given a long weekend off to prepare for a tough run of fixtures against three of the current top six.
A televised game against Bristol City at home is followed by the visit of Fulham and a rescheduled midweek trip to Cardiff City.
Alnwick is confident Parkinson’s squad will be ready after recharging their batteries in the next few days.
“I’ll be having a little time off now back up in Newcastle,” he said. “I think the break has come at a good time for the lads because a lot of work went into the results we got over Christmas.
“We’re in a decent position and we deserved the results we got. I think we’ll all be ready when Bristol City comes around to go again and push on.”
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