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Wanderers are making plans to ‘go global’ if they get promoted to the Championship next season.
Changes in the rules around foreign transfers have opened up an opportunity for clubs to bring in players from abroad that would have previously been rejected a work permit.
Ian Evatt and his recruitment chief Chris Markham are now looking at markets which could help Bolton if they were to step up a level next season.
In the short-term, the club are considering bringing in cover for Gethin Jones – who plays his last game tonight before joining up with the Australia squad at the Asian Cup – and midfielder Carlos Mendes Gomes, who is at the Africa Cup of Nations with Guinea Bissau. Both players could be out of commission well into February, depending on their country’s success.
Evatt wants to keep his options open for the time being.
“I think we just need to stay fluid,” he told The Bolton News. “We work the windows in advance, so we have done our preparation. We know what the market looks like.
“There are other parts of the market too, which I don’t think we’re quite ready to use, i.e. the worldwide transfers, but it is developing all the time.
“That side of things is developing, so hopefully in the summer we are ready to move into that market.
“We are ready with everything else but we want to stay fluid for now.”
In June, the regulations around international transfers were relaxed slightly, enabling clubs in the Championship to sign up to four players who did not previously meet the international visa requirements. Clubs in Leagues One and Two can sign two players under the same guidelines.
To gain a GBE (Governing Body Exemption) players were either passed or failed based on their international experience, age and the number of minutes they had featured in the previous season.
But the Football Association said in the summer the new move 'provides additional access to exceptional international talent which falls outside the current GBE criteria'.
Evatt believes Wanderers can get value for money by investigating foreign transfer markets, previously mentioning Japan as an example. But he is reluctant to rush in and feels the club would have to be playing back in the second tier for the changes to be successful.
“You have to set up a proper strategy, have a department which can concentrate on the many, many variables in that type of transfer,” he said.
“You have language barriers, you need people who know the market, the values, the agency, how they are going to take to a new country – all these things are hugely important.
“When you can only have a couple of spaces you need to make sure you get it right.
“Hopefully when we progress – this year, next year, whenever we are back in the Championship – it is key for us to be smart and strategic in that market and get the best players for the best value.”
Wanderers go to Fleetwood tonight looking to secure a third straight victory in the league, and potentially return to the automatic promotion places.
They would climb above Peterborough United if they can better Posh’s result at home to Barnsley.
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