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Wanderers are hoping to get the best of both worlds by sending out their youngest players on loan to local non-league sides in the coming weeks.
Moves for Callum King-Harmes and George Thomason were confirmed yesterday by the Whites, with midfielder Sonny Graham also lined up for a potential move to Atherton Colls after playing in their weekend friendly against Northwich.
The likes of Adam Senior, Matt Alexander, Muhammadu Faal and Harry Brockbank could also follow suit in the coming weeks as the club look to adjust to the lack of a development squad this season and ensure their fringe players get regular football.
The arrangement with Bamber Bridge – which is where both King-Harmes and Thomason will be playing their football for the foreseeable future – will enable them to train full-time with Ian Evatt and his squad at Lostock during the week, and link-up with the Northern Premier League side on matchdays.
A similar link-up has been proposed for Colls and it is hoped that it will give Wanderers the opportunity to monitor the players’ progress more closely than the standard loan, where they may disappear until the next transfer window.
King-Harmes made a handful of appearances last season in League One and has also featured in a few friendlies for the Whites as a striker. He was given a one-year professional contract at the start of the season and, speaking recently to The Bolton News, Evatt underlined that by sending his younger players out on loan it will not be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ “Just because they are not playing for us on a matchday does not mean we have forgotten about them or that they don’t have a first team future with Bolton Wanderers,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is that some of the players who represented the club did so – in my opinion – a little too early in their development.
“We want that development to continue. And I think it will be beneficial for some of them to go and play some men’s football, to gain some experience, but also for us to keep a good check on them during the week.”
Graham made a total 18 appearances for Wanderers before his 18th birthday in June, giving him more first team experience than Luca Connell, Ricardo Vaz Te, Josh Vela or even Kevin Nolan at a similar age.
Wanderers’ need was such last season that he was thrust into first team action alongside the Junior Whites but to the Morecambe-born midfielder’s immense credit, he stuck around to feature later in the campaign too under Keith Hill.
The club’s decision to downgrade the academy from category two to category three, however, means that there is no obvious route for regular football is Graham or any of his contemporaries find themselves on the fringes of Evatt’s selection plans.
Furthermore, Wanderers are still bound by a transfer embargo which limits them to 23 registered first team players. Exactly what constitutes a ‘first team player’ has been subject to much scrutiny down the years at Bolton – and the boundaries of the definition were certainly tested under previous ownership. The EFL has been notoriously unwilling to divulge information on embargo terms but the popular consensus is that Evatt will only be able to use 23 players who have at any stage played senior football.
That means Graham, King-Harmes, Thomason and even back-up keeper Alexander will count towards the quota, whatever the dire circumstances of their debut, unless they go out on loan elsewhere.
Should Evatt want to bring in more senior players he will almost certainly have to trade off the space in his squad by allowing younger players out on ‘work experience’ loans to local clubs.
The trick, for Wanderers, is finding a club willing to allow them the day-to-day training contact with their player and still be able to use them on a matchday. It remains to be seen whether that will limit the number of destinations they can utilise.
For the players, the challenge will be to ensure both their training and matchday performances remain at a high standard in order to keep them in Evatt’s thinking for the future.
Source
Moves for Callum King-Harmes and George Thomason were confirmed yesterday by the Whites, with midfielder Sonny Graham also lined up for a potential move to Atherton Colls after playing in their weekend friendly against Northwich.
The likes of Adam Senior, Matt Alexander, Muhammadu Faal and Harry Brockbank could also follow suit in the coming weeks as the club look to adjust to the lack of a development squad this season and ensure their fringe players get regular football.
The arrangement with Bamber Bridge – which is where both King-Harmes and Thomason will be playing their football for the foreseeable future – will enable them to train full-time with Ian Evatt and his squad at Lostock during the week, and link-up with the Northern Premier League side on matchdays.
A similar link-up has been proposed for Colls and it is hoped that it will give Wanderers the opportunity to monitor the players’ progress more closely than the standard loan, where they may disappear until the next transfer window.
King-Harmes made a handful of appearances last season in League One and has also featured in a few friendlies for the Whites as a striker. He was given a one-year professional contract at the start of the season and, speaking recently to The Bolton News, Evatt underlined that by sending his younger players out on loan it will not be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind.’ “Just because they are not playing for us on a matchday does not mean we have forgotten about them or that they don’t have a first team future with Bolton Wanderers,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is that some of the players who represented the club did so – in my opinion – a little too early in their development.
“We want that development to continue. And I think it will be beneficial for some of them to go and play some men’s football, to gain some experience, but also for us to keep a good check on them during the week.”
Graham made a total 18 appearances for Wanderers before his 18th birthday in June, giving him more first team experience than Luca Connell, Ricardo Vaz Te, Josh Vela or even Kevin Nolan at a similar age.
Wanderers’ need was such last season that he was thrust into first team action alongside the Junior Whites but to the Morecambe-born midfielder’s immense credit, he stuck around to feature later in the campaign too under Keith Hill.
The club’s decision to downgrade the academy from category two to category three, however, means that there is no obvious route for regular football is Graham or any of his contemporaries find themselves on the fringes of Evatt’s selection plans.
Furthermore, Wanderers are still bound by a transfer embargo which limits them to 23 registered first team players. Exactly what constitutes a ‘first team player’ has been subject to much scrutiny down the years at Bolton – and the boundaries of the definition were certainly tested under previous ownership. The EFL has been notoriously unwilling to divulge information on embargo terms but the popular consensus is that Evatt will only be able to use 23 players who have at any stage played senior football.
That means Graham, King-Harmes, Thomason and even back-up keeper Alexander will count towards the quota, whatever the dire circumstances of their debut, unless they go out on loan elsewhere.
Should Evatt want to bring in more senior players he will almost certainly have to trade off the space in his squad by allowing younger players out on ‘work experience’ loans to local clubs.
The trick, for Wanderers, is finding a club willing to allow them the day-to-day training contact with their player and still be able to use them on a matchday. It remains to be seen whether that will limit the number of destinations they can utilise.
For the players, the challenge will be to ensure both their training and matchday performances remain at a high standard in order to keep them in Evatt’s thinking for the future.
Source
