Home
Wanderers have not received a bid from National League Wrexham for wing-back Declan John, The Bolton News understands.
A wave of rumour surfaced at the weekend suggesting that Phil Parkinson’s National League side had tabled a £500,000 off for the Wales international, who signed a three-year deal at the UniBol in June 2021.
John was one of Wanderers’ leading assist-makers last season and has held down the left wing-back spot exclusively since the turn of the year.
But despite being one of Ian Evatt’s favoured starters, fierce speculation on social media over the past couple of days suggested the big-spending non-league side, backed by celebrity owners Ryan Renyolds and Rob McEllhenney, were on the hunt.
Local sources suggest Wrexham are looking to strengthen in the wing-back position and they have already spent big on the likes of Elliott Lee from Luton, underlining their ambition to get back into the EFL after last season’s near miss.
But the link – given his previous history with Parkinson and his security and popularity at Bolton – was still a surprise to many.
John spent a few unhappy months at Sunderland during Parkinson’s time in charge, moving on loan from Swansea City, but failed to play a single game.
Speaking to The Bolton News on his arrival on loan at Bolton in January 2021, the defender admitted his time in limbo at the Stadium of Light has never quite been explained.
“I wish I could tell you,” John said, asked why it had not worked out. “To be honest, I’ve never really been given a good answer.
“I went in to see the Sunderland manager (Parkinson) a couple of times and he couldn’t really give me a good reason and Swansea was exactly the same.
“When I went to Sunderland on loan, about two or three days before I reported to training the manager phoned me up for a chat, and he said he wanted me to come in and get games.
“From the way it went I thought maybe I wouldn’t get in straight away, that it would probably be a couple of weeks and I’d be coming off the bench, that sort of thing. But it went on and on, and the chance just never came around.
“By the time I got to see him again to speak further about it, all the Covid stuff started happening and I’d been there six or seven weeks without a chance to show him what I was about.”
Counting his loan spell, John has played 65 games at Bolton and scored seven goals, making his spell in Lancashire the most prolific of his career so far.
Source
