Alfie's Oz adventure has Wanderers boss looking at loan deals

The popular striker’s move to Sydney FC – with his release from his contract bizarrely announced during Tuesday night’s Carabou Cup defeat at Leeds – means Bolton boss Parkinson will scour the loan market to bring in new blood.

Sydney announced they had signed the 24-year-old yesterday morning, with a statement from Le Fondre revealing he felt there was no way he could refuse the opportunity to move down under.

“This is the opportunity of a lifetime for me and I’m very much eager to get started at Sydney FC. It’s an honour to join one of the biggest clubs in Australia and I’m confident we will continue to enjoy success,” a statement on the club website said.

And Parkinson revealed his former player, and a fellow ex-Reading star, will head down under with his blessing.

“We wish him well, Adam came to see us and said he wanted to go, for the football but also for the family lifetime experience of going to live in Australia,” said Parkinson.

“It was something Adam and his family were really keen to do and we thought it was difficult to stand in his way.”

Le Fondre’s departure means an anticipated loan stint to give Connor Hall has, for now, been put on hold. But although the transfer window closed last week bringing in a loan recruit before the end of the month is a distinct possibility.

“We need at least another player in the building and we’re trying hard to achieve that, but so are a lot of clubs,” added Parkinson. “We’ll get there though, we’ll bring one in. Everybody knows there is a premium for strikers, they’re hard players to get but there are a few options out there and we’re working towards them.”

Parkinson admitted he had some decisions to make on his team selection at the Madejski Stadium today.

Ten changes were made in the Carabou Cup defeat at Leeds and while the result was not the one Wanderers wanted, the manager says many of those on show staked a genuine claim for a place in the starting XI this afternoon. And though Sammy Ameobi’s availability remains a doubt today he has some thinking to do.

“Generally it was a good performance at Leeds,” added Parkinson. “We were pleased with the way a lot of the lads played. A lot of players needed valuable minutes and got them but equally the lads who played in the first two games have also done well. So that gives us some selection decisions to make going into this game.

“I’d rather have that problem than not have it and we can think carefully on the way down, we had a good chat yesterday about the week ahead and we’ll take each game as it comes, starting at Reading, and we will pick the team we feel is capable of getting a result.”

Source

If Sydney think he's 24 then someone has been telling them porkies1 He's 31!!

I was very surprised by this. I honestly thought ALF had the better part of a year left on his deal and that with the new signings he'd be very useful for us this season. I wish him well but the timing truly is both odd and poor.

Did the PR machine not say that we were looking for two more strikers before ALF quit - which would now suggest we're 3 short of what Parky had in mind - two for certain.
This article implies that we're now looking for one loanee and it's not clear where he might come from.
Does that mean that all the options they were looking into when we needed at least two strikers have dried up? Or does it mean that the PR stuff was all bullshit to pacify the fans and until ALF quit there was no intention of signing anyone so now they are forced into looking?
I'd have thought that if the intention really was to bring someone else in before ALF quit there would be be loads of leads and loads of ongoing lines of enquiry.

wanderlust wrote:Did the PR machine not say that we were looking for two more strikers before ALF quit - which would now suggest we're 3 short of what Parky had in mind - two for certain.
This article implies that we're now looking for one loanee and it's not clear where he might come from.
Does that mean that all the options they were looking into when we needed at least two strikers have dried up? Or does it mean that the PR stuff was all bullshit to pacify the fans and until ALF quit there was no intention of signing anyone so now they are forced into looking?
I'd have thought that if the intention really was to bring someone else in before ALF quit there would be be loads of leads and loads of ongoing lines of enquiry.

From what I've been able to piece together from various press reports the club didn't know ALF wanted to leave until Monday. As a result of his departure it appears we're hanging onto Connor Hall at least for the moment so that would imply we're still after two strikers (three if Hall goes out on loan) but perhaps we're close to agreement on one already.

I don't know quite how all this happened though. Surely the Australian club should have approached the club before talking to ALF. The time line that's been presented seems to suggest they talked to him first, he went to ask for his release and THEN was given pemission to talk to them. Am I missing something or is that not a pretty big breach of the rules?