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Ian Evatt says Wanderers will do “the right thing for the club” when it comes to the future of promising midfielder Regan Riley.
The 18-year-old, the fifth youngest player in the club’s history when he faced Tranmere last season, is a target for Championship side Norwich.
Evatt rates the teenager – a boyhood Bolton fan who joined the club aged nine – highly and insisted it would not be a case of simply cashing in with the Canaries circling.
"What I will say is Mark Litherland and the academy are doing a fantastic job with our younger players,” the Wanderers boss said.
“As much as physically possibly I have the better younger ones and the ones that have earned the right with their performances and the way they handle themselves on and off the pitch up with us in the first team and training with us.
“Certainly we're not in a rush to sell or anything like that, we'll do what we think is right for the football club moving forward and what's going to be of benefit.”
With Brighton also credited with an interest, a fee of around £250,000 has been suggested in some quarters for the Bromley Cross-based second-year scholar.
Asked if any money received would go into his transfer budget, Evatt said: “If anything happened that's up for discussion.
“My role is to make this club sustainable and self-sustainable and that's important.
“This club needs to have that model and we need to develop our own to ensure that a) we develop players for our first team but b) we have a model that can make this club sustainable for the fans moving forwards and that's what the board want, that's what I want. With the salary cap the fee, if there was one, could potentially go back into the cap, but for now that's an irrelevance."
"There's lots more that we need to think about rather than Regan Riley at the moment, with all due respect.
“Our concentration is fully focused on turning this form around and getting three points on Saturday.”
Source
The 18-year-old, the fifth youngest player in the club’s history when he faced Tranmere last season, is a target for Championship side Norwich.
Evatt rates the teenager – a boyhood Bolton fan who joined the club aged nine – highly and insisted it would not be a case of simply cashing in with the Canaries circling.
"What I will say is Mark Litherland and the academy are doing a fantastic job with our younger players,” the Wanderers boss said.
“As much as physically possibly I have the better younger ones and the ones that have earned the right with their performances and the way they handle themselves on and off the pitch up with us in the first team and training with us.
“Certainly we're not in a rush to sell or anything like that, we'll do what we think is right for the football club moving forward and what's going to be of benefit.”
With Brighton also credited with an interest, a fee of around £250,000 has been suggested in some quarters for the Bromley Cross-based second-year scholar.
Asked if any money received would go into his transfer budget, Evatt said: “If anything happened that's up for discussion.
“My role is to make this club sustainable and self-sustainable and that's important.
“This club needs to have that model and we need to develop our own to ensure that a) we develop players for our first team but b) we have a model that can make this club sustainable for the fans moving forwards and that's what the board want, that's what I want. With the salary cap the fee, if there was one, could potentially go back into the cap, but for now that's an irrelevance."
"There's lots more that we need to think about rather than Regan Riley at the moment, with all due respect.
“Our concentration is fully focused on turning this form around and getting three points on Saturday.”
Source