Home
In a week of seemingly never-ending good news in football, the fact that Bolton Wanderers are finally free of a transfer embargo feels like the icing on the cake for fans.
Although in truth, restrictions on the Whites’ transfer activity could have been relaxed as early as May, it was not until the EFL finally published a definitive list of clubs currently under an embargo that we could say for certain.
Ian Evatt was pleased to hear the confirmation, joking: “We’ve put in our first million-pound bid today and are waiting for that to be accepted!”
Realistically, Wanderers have already done a lot of their transfer business this summer without spending a penny on transfer fees.
The official removal of the embargoes will allow them to pay for loans - which opens up a much wider pool of players – and that may well be where Evatt looks later in the window to top up his squad.
“It’s great news for the football club,” the manager said. “It’s just another message to say that we’re heading in the right direction.” Focus at the moment is more geared towards moving players on who will not feature in League One.
Reiss Greenidge and Brandon Comley have been away on international duty with Guyana and Monserrat, respectively, and look to be two of the players who fall into the ‘unwanted’ category at the UniBol.
“It’s still ongoing really and nothing has really changed from last week on that front,” Evatt said on Thursday afternoon. “We’ve got some players who are away on international duty, so that’s probably halted things. But we’re really happy with the players we’ve recruited, they’re training really well, they’re working really hard, so we’re excited to see them play on Saturday.” Wanderers go to Longridge Town for their pre-season opener expecting to play a different 11 in each half, which will also be the case next Tuesday when they go to Atherton Colls.
“Obviously for now it’s a fitness exercise,” Evatt said of the upcoming friendly. “It’s about getting minutes into the legs. “I think we want to see some of the things we’ve worked on in training, but first and foremost, it’s about keeping everyone in one piece and getting them to the fitness levels required to start the season. As you know I want to win every game we play so I expect us to win.
“We’re not playing as many games this season as what we did last season so we’re doing a lot more work on the training pitch which is important. “We’re in a better place. Obviously we’ve got some continuity so the lads know what I expect and know what to expect and everything is geared towards MK Dons on August 7. “That’s a really good start for us. It’s a really interesting game I think, tactically. It’s going to be a good one because they play total football, and football in my opinion in the right way so we need to figure out a pressing strategy and work on that pre-season to get ready for them.”
Source