£1 million fee for Beckford Agreed - Hall to sign - NIXON

Bolton boss Dougie Freedman is signing Leicester City striker Jermaine Beckford in a £1 million deal.

Freedman has been after Beckford for weeks and has finally agreed a fee - with the Foxes letting the forward go at the start of their summer sales.

Beckford, who lives in the Bolton area, is also willing to take a pay cut to join Wanderers and sign a two-year deal at the Reebok to join up with Freedman.

The Bolton chief has been on Beckford’s trail since the striker was on trial at Palace a decade ago and has finally got the chance to sign him up.

Meanwhile West Ham winger Rob Hall is quitting the club to sign for Bolton. His contract is up and he has opted to move on.

Hall’s fee will have to be settled between the clubs but they are miles apart on valuations - and it may take a tribunal to settle the case.

Freedman wants Hall as part of a new-look squad and sees him as a player for the future. Hammers think he is a prize asset and want a big fee.

Bolton may not know the final bill for months which will hold up Freedman’s plans to bring in other captures in this window.



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Will be a good signing, hope he's dropped his wages a lot.

Can only mean either or both Ngog, Sordell are being shipped out, good move Dougie.

Dougie should show the tribunal the video of Hall when he played against Blackpool - West Ham will end up having to pay us to take him off their hands.

A million for a 29 year old who's scored 17 goals in 64 appearances since leaving Everton? At least he seems keen. Hall's valuation will be interesting, but as there are others after him, I'd be surprised if we'd go the distance to get him - can't see Fat Sam doing us any favours.  Still it would be good if they both came as presumably Dougie would be able to find a decent attacking threat between them and what we have.

Beckford will be a great signing for us. Dougie knows Beckford very well and we should trust his judgement.

Beckford lives around the Bolton are, so he won't be getting homesick, like t'other one.

This is the first signing that excites me in a long time.

Cautiously optimistic about it, but I won't get carried away by his scoring record over the last 2 years - it's not great at almost a goal every 4 games. At least he'll provide some competition for Ngog and Sordell. With Cavies in the mix, surely Dougie could find a winning combo from that lot?

i would guess one of the strikers will be on their way as we would have 5 now including Eaves. If DF plans to play Eagles off the front man that means we would have 5 strikers after one place, so it would make sense to move someone on.

If i had to make the choice i would move on N'Gog, i still think Sordell can come good given time.

Natasha Whittam wrote:This is the first signing that excites me in a long time.

Lolololol - excited by signing jermaine Beckford, that is class. I am more excited about the Nescafé latte I have for later. 

You plonker Nat. Lets see how excited you are by him come Xmas.

Michael Bolton wrote:

Lolololol - excited by signing jermaine Beckford, that is class. I am more excited about the Nescafé latte I have for later. 

You plonker Nat. Lets see how excited you are by him come Xmas.

You keep stuffing your larger than life face Bolton you bellend, if Beckford plays the majority of games upto Christmas I bet he has 12+ goals by the time you tuck into your turkey.

Norpig wrote:i would guess one of the strikers will be on their way as we would have 5 now including Eaves. If DF plans to play Eagles off the front man that means we would have 5 strikers after one place, so it would make sense to move someone on.

If i had to make the choice i would move on N'Gog, i still think Sordell can come good given time.

It's a possibility but there's a case for keeping them all - although neither Sordell or Ngog have been at their best playing as attacking midfielders - but there could be a more potent combination if Dougie was to shuffle them round a bit.
On the other hand, if he thinks we have a surfeit of players able to play the striker role, and we could get the right price, he might be tempted to offload one to reinvest in Spearing or Dawson or an other.

i think if we keep N'gog we may be better playing a 4-1-2-1-2 especially with the way DF is talking of using Eagles.  So eagles playing behind N'gog and beckford.  but i do beleive we need to address the defensive midfield slot unless the go for a 4312 in which case i think chungy, holden and then spearing if we can get him.  it looks as if things are starting to shapre up though, we should be in for a good season.

posted twice, nothing to see here!

Good signing, I'm sure Dougie can get the best out if him. If he can, he's a lethal finisher.

sceptical, but quick, decent touch. 

fingers crossed.

Crafty and unpredictable, speedy and likes to shoot. Hasn't been as sharp as I would have liked for Jamaica but I have been encouraged by some of his performances for the Boyz. Good signing, overall. Looking forward to Hall showing what he can do as well.

...still waiting 



hate these protracted transfers, Im impatient. 

The longer it goes on, the more I think its gone tits up...

Both solid acquisitions, I'm not over the moon with beckford but he will get you goals in this division. Hall has a lot of potential, saw him a few times for Birmingham and he impressed, he was also linked with Liverpool.

Nixon has re-affirmed that our Douglas is looking at "a big money striker" who is not Beckford. The suggestion from people in the know is that the search is on for a "20-goal a season" striker and that 2 potential targets have already been identified.

Target #1 was the front-runner for the slot until Target #2 became "available" and the preferred option. If you read between the lines, Marc Iles has interviews coming with 3 "30 goal strikers" in Walker, Whatmore and McGinlay while McGinlay has already weighed in on the need for a real goalscorer - the likes of which is not currently on the roster.

There is another ex-player whose name escapes me as I write this who has also made mention of the need for an "out and out" goal-getter and the fact that Nixon not only knows the name but has seen him play suggests that there very well may be a major announcement soon regarding both a pending arrival and pending departures. In keeping with our current theme, watch this space!

PS - Sorry for all the """"'s.