Home
FOR a decade Johan Elmander’s record-breaking transfer has stood as a testament to Wanderers’ excess in the Premier League era.
The £8.2million fee paid to Toulouse in June 2018 also included Norwegian misfit Daniel Braaten as a makeweight, and with wages factored in the Sweden international is considered to have cost the club in excess of £15million over three years.
Such fees are barely imaginable these days. Outside the top flight bubble Wanderers have not once paid out a seven-figure fee in one go – totting up payments to Liverpool for Jay Spearing and West Ham for Rob Hall in increments.
In fact it has been 41 months since any fee was paid for a player. In January 2015 Bolton paid roughly the same amount for Filipe Twardzik from Celtic that Elmander took home in a fortnight’s wage.
But the eye-watering figures involved in the striker’s time at Wanderers have helped shape a view of his Bolton career, perhaps even an unfair one.
The most common accusation levelled at Elmander is that he did not score enough goals, and a return of 22 in 108 games was hardly prolific.
He had been a regular goal-scorer in the Danish league for Brondby earlier in his career but by the time he has moved to the French league with Toulouse, he has already modified his game to become what is now fashionably known as a number 10.
To make matters worse, he was being compared with Nicolas Anelka, the French striker brought back to pristine form by Sam Allardyce and sold for £15million to Chelsea not six months earlier.
Elmander was clearly capable of scoring great goals, as that famous strike against Wolves at Molineux illustrated, but he did not have the killer instincts of an Ivan Klasnic nor the penalty box physicality of a Kevin Davies. In the clearly defined lines of Gary Megson’s Bolton, the erudite front man looked out of sorts.
Megson certainly had plans to evolve the team but never quite found a midfield with the right blend to match the more technical opponents. Sean Davis was designed to be a game-changer when he arrived on a free transfer but the play-maker’s horrendous luck with injury stopped Bolton’s plans in their tracks.
That left Elmander lacking the kind of service he needed. While Davies was happy to fight and scrap for aerial balls, Elmander’s more subtle needs were not being addressed, and it started to show in his body language.
Owen Coyle’s arrival changed things, at least for a while. Given more scope for expression, we started to see a more creative side to Elmander’s game.
Helped in no small part by the Premier League’s in-form midfield duo, Stuart Holden and Fabrice Muamba, the team thrived in the good times. Elmander started to find some goals and fans began to warm to his hard-working style.
Yet Coyle recognised he still needed an out-and-out goal-scorer and in January 2011 secured Daniel Sturridge on loan from Chelsea.
Elmander – then seeking a new contract – had his nose pushed out of joint by the new striker’s arrival. The club had indicated it was open to talks but after losing his place to Sturridge – who was also a big success – the conversation dried up entirely.
Two huge gut-punches were to follow for the team. First the loss of Holden to an injury from which the American sadly never really recovered, and secondly the embarrassment of a 5-0 defeat in the FA Cup semi-final against Stoke.
Injuries had forced Coyle into a reshuffle before Wembley and Elmander found himself inserted as a makeshift midfielder, the idea being his tireless running could replicate that of Holden. The experiment seemed to work in a 3-0 win over West Ham but failed miserably a week later in front of 75,000 fans in the capital.
Elmander’s performance was criticised strongly, which was another nail in the coffin for his Bolton career.
The season finished with a whimper and though frustration told in Elmander’s body language, his natural easy-going nature meant an outburst in his final game for Bolton felt like it had come right out of the blue.
Asked for his thoughts on his future after a meek 2-0 defeat against Manchester City, the striker snapped: “I didn't get something good from the club, so I didn't have to decide anything.
“We had a talk in November and didn't really hear anything after that.”
Elmander was ushered out of the media area by his advisors, turning back to say: “You ask the club what they could have done.”
A matter of days later his move to Turkish club Galatasaray was confirmed.
Some might say losing a club record signing as a free transfer summed up the economy of Bolton at the time. But at that stage, the Bank of Eddie Davies was still operational, and the Premier League bubble had yet to burst. Elmander had a decent spell in Turkey, played Champions League football, and even moved back for a brief spell in England with Norwich City. He finished up his career at Brondby, and finally with a short spell at Orgyte in Sweden.
For many Wanderers fans he will be regarded as the club’s most expensive mistake. Others may argue he was simply the wrong man in the wrong place, and the wrong time.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/16316906.Ten_years_on__Was_Elmander_really_Bolton_s_most_costly_mistake_/
The £8.2million fee paid to Toulouse in June 2018 also included Norwegian misfit Daniel Braaten as a makeweight, and with wages factored in the Sweden international is considered to have cost the club in excess of £15million over three years.
Such fees are barely imaginable these days. Outside the top flight bubble Wanderers have not once paid out a seven-figure fee in one go – totting up payments to Liverpool for Jay Spearing and West Ham for Rob Hall in increments.
In fact it has been 41 months since any fee was paid for a player. In January 2015 Bolton paid roughly the same amount for Filipe Twardzik from Celtic that Elmander took home in a fortnight’s wage.
But the eye-watering figures involved in the striker’s time at Wanderers have helped shape a view of his Bolton career, perhaps even an unfair one.
The most common accusation levelled at Elmander is that he did not score enough goals, and a return of 22 in 108 games was hardly prolific.
He had been a regular goal-scorer in the Danish league for Brondby earlier in his career but by the time he has moved to the French league with Toulouse, he has already modified his game to become what is now fashionably known as a number 10.
To make matters worse, he was being compared with Nicolas Anelka, the French striker brought back to pristine form by Sam Allardyce and sold for £15million to Chelsea not six months earlier.
Elmander was clearly capable of scoring great goals, as that famous strike against Wolves at Molineux illustrated, but he did not have the killer instincts of an Ivan Klasnic nor the penalty box physicality of a Kevin Davies. In the clearly defined lines of Gary Megson’s Bolton, the erudite front man looked out of sorts.
Megson certainly had plans to evolve the team but never quite found a midfield with the right blend to match the more technical opponents. Sean Davis was designed to be a game-changer when he arrived on a free transfer but the play-maker’s horrendous luck with injury stopped Bolton’s plans in their tracks.
That left Elmander lacking the kind of service he needed. While Davies was happy to fight and scrap for aerial balls, Elmander’s more subtle needs were not being addressed, and it started to show in his body language.
Owen Coyle’s arrival changed things, at least for a while. Given more scope for expression, we started to see a more creative side to Elmander’s game.
Helped in no small part by the Premier League’s in-form midfield duo, Stuart Holden and Fabrice Muamba, the team thrived in the good times. Elmander started to find some goals and fans began to warm to his hard-working style.
Yet Coyle recognised he still needed an out-and-out goal-scorer and in January 2011 secured Daniel Sturridge on loan from Chelsea.
Elmander – then seeking a new contract – had his nose pushed out of joint by the new striker’s arrival. The club had indicated it was open to talks but after losing his place to Sturridge – who was also a big success – the conversation dried up entirely.
Two huge gut-punches were to follow for the team. First the loss of Holden to an injury from which the American sadly never really recovered, and secondly the embarrassment of a 5-0 defeat in the FA Cup semi-final against Stoke.
Injuries had forced Coyle into a reshuffle before Wembley and Elmander found himself inserted as a makeshift midfielder, the idea being his tireless running could replicate that of Holden. The experiment seemed to work in a 3-0 win over West Ham but failed miserably a week later in front of 75,000 fans in the capital.
Elmander’s performance was criticised strongly, which was another nail in the coffin for his Bolton career.
The season finished with a whimper and though frustration told in Elmander’s body language, his natural easy-going nature meant an outburst in his final game for Bolton felt like it had come right out of the blue.
Asked for his thoughts on his future after a meek 2-0 defeat against Manchester City, the striker snapped: “I didn't get something good from the club, so I didn't have to decide anything.
“We had a talk in November and didn't really hear anything after that.”
Elmander was ushered out of the media area by his advisors, turning back to say: “You ask the club what they could have done.”
A matter of days later his move to Turkish club Galatasaray was confirmed.
Some might say losing a club record signing as a free transfer summed up the economy of Bolton at the time. But at that stage, the Bank of Eddie Davies was still operational, and the Premier League bubble had yet to burst. Elmander had a decent spell in Turkey, played Champions League football, and even moved back for a brief spell in England with Norwich City. He finished up his career at Brondby, and finally with a short spell at Orgyte in Sweden.
For many Wanderers fans he will be regarded as the club’s most expensive mistake. Others may argue he was simply the wrong man in the wrong place, and the wrong time.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/16316906.Ten_years_on__Was_Elmander_really_Bolton_s_most_costly_mistake_/
