Time is tight but Bolton refuse to concede defeat in chase for striker Jutkiewicz

Dougie Freedman is holding out hope that Wanderers can still do a deal to sign Lukas Jutkiewicz but admits time is not on his side.

Boro reportedly want £1.5million for the 25-year-old but their efforts to get a bidding war started between Burnley, Wanderers and other suitors such as Derby County and Wolves appear to have forced the whole transfer into a stalemate.

Sources at Turf Moor claim they are closest to a conclusion and that the move could be sealed early this week.

And there was a sense of frustration in Freedman’s words as he refused to give up on the striker he helped back to top form at the end of last season.

“We would all love to see Lukas back at this football club, I’m no different,” he told The Bolton News. “But we know it isn’t that simple – the financial side of things is something we all have to come to terms with.

“It doesn’t surprise me that other clubs are looking at him and we are one of them but it has to be a deal to suit everybody.

“I’m sure our fans understand that, and they are behind us, and if it comes to the point where we can’t sign Lukas then they also know there are other players we can look at too.”

Wanderers won their second pre-season friendly against FC Vestsjaelland yesterday thanks to a first-half strike from Liam Feeney.

It perhaps proved to be a tougher afternoon than expected for the Whites but Freedman was pleased with the workout his side got on the day.

“It was a very good pre-season game for us,” he said. “We’re at a place where their fitness levels are four or five weeks ahead of us and they are ready for their season.

“I felt we stuck at it, made a few good chances, but we didn’t take them. The longer that goes on, the closer the game seems to get.”

Joe Riley, Oscar Threlkeld and Josh Vela played 90 minutes for the Whites, while David Wheater, Adam Bogdan, Liam Trotter and Mark Davies sat it out.

Freedman insisted his camp was injury-free, although some players were being carefully managed in order to avoid them picking up knocks.

“Three young lads played 90 minutes and that is great for them. I want them to be playing football – and when I got to this club a couple of years ago I was amazed that none of the younger ones were out on loan. At that age they should be playing night and day.”

* Wanderers are expected to confirm today the signing of Cardiff full-back Kevin McNaughton on a season-long loan.

Source

Juke heading to Burnley for a medical whilst his agent discusses terms according to Nixon. He said Bolton only have a few hours to act and it's down to Eddie's money - which he doesn't sound confident will come.

Looking like we're going to miss out on Juke and he'll be warming Burnley's bench next season (at least to begin with). Disappointing if Eddie doesn't pull his finger out considering the efforts Dougie's making to get some sort of finances together.

bwfc1874 wrote:Juke heading to Burnley for a medical whilst his agent discusses terms according to Nixon. He said Bolton only have a few hours to act and it's down to Eddie's money - which he doesn't sound confident will come.

Looking like we're going to miss out on Juke and he'll be warming Burnley's bench next season (at least to begin with). Disappointing if Eddie doesn't pull his finger out considering the efforts Dougie's making to get some sort of finances together.

Totally agree. £1.5 million is not exactly breaking the bank. What about the money from the Macron sponsorship deal?

Juke isn't the be all and end all. I understand why everyone wants him back but I'm pretty sure freedman will find someone just as good

I agree with you Boggers I think he can find somebody but he's going to need some sort of funding I think.

People seem awfully upset about missing out on him, almost as upset as they were when we signed him "boro reserve, says it all!" 

I think it has proven we need a Juke "type" or at least we do IMO, someone who's got the ability to be a nuisance, hold the ball up, win headers and take the pressure off.

Sad we can't afford him really as he'd clearly like to play for us.
Glad that Dougie has acknowledged there are potentially others but Juke is a known quantity and in that sense is a fairly safe bet.

This "time is not on our side" business is interesting inasmuch that it implies that our financial situation may change before long - i.e. that having the money is dependent on selling first. Perhaps the timing of Boggers deal is the stumbling block?

Club can fuck off as far as I'm concerned. Past giving a flying fuck about this bunch of fannys.

Yes dear.

Im sick of getting lied to by a club that I give a lot of money to.

Why should I give a shit when we, as fans are lied to on a daily basis?

It wouldn't bother me as much if we had been honest and said at the end of the season that Juke had gone back, there was no way in hell we could afford him, we have no intentions of signing him whatsoever, we are just going to bullshit you for 3 months though for a laugh - it wouldn't annoy me so much.

Fact is, this club lies to its fans on a regular basis and its finally got on my tits.

I want honesty, I want transparency, I want to know EXACTLY where the club expect to be next season, I want to know the scope of our so called 'ambition', I want to know what finance we have available so we dont get wound up with pathetic wild goose chases like this one every pre-season. I want Phil Gartside to come out and be honest with the fans, tell us what the fuck he has done with all our money, Tell us why he lied to DF about the Ngog money, I want to know who moonshift investments are, I want to know what is REALLY going to happen when Eddie pops his clogs. 

Call me a 'shit fan' if you want, but ive spent thousands and thousands on this club over the last 10 or 15 years, so im allowed to be fucked off and criticize.

You're certainly not a shit fan, but you are one of the most naive people iv ever encountered. 'Goose chases' as you call them are what the press live off, they're called transfer rumours and most aren't true and as such the players in question aren't even our targets. When we don't sign someone we're linked with you tend to go off on one, but you need to learn that what the papers/players agents are saying isn't necessarily true.

As for Juke, I don't think the fans have been lied to - I think you're the only one that feels that way. We've been priced out of a move because he impressed with us and higher clubs with better finances than us have made a move - Burnley and Derby. He's never going to choose us over Burnley even if we could stump up the money. It's not as if we've seen comments from Gartside saying we'll sign Juke at all costs etc. we've been very quiet.

You're right about more transparency being needed in the club, I think it's true for most clubs in England but as I've mentioned in another thread the fans have no power due to the way the clubs are set up in England and as such we have no sway in the actual running of teams. But when it comes to players and transfers I think you need to take a different view to be honest, it's all a bit mislead on your part.

I know what you're saying but it's seldom so clear cut in life.

For example when Juke went back to Boro they couldn't really have said "we'd like to sign him but we don't have their asking price however if we can flog off a few players without taking too much of a battering in the market or sounding desperate to get them off the wage bill we might have enough money to put together a deal before the transfer window is done"

That would just have alerted everyone.
I'd never condone the club lying in the media - or the media putting words into the club's mouth - but sometimes it's better not to tell everything so as not to give the game away.

Financial transparency is a must - the UK stuff is all out in the public domain somewhere - but what you're asking for goes way beyond that. You're asking what the business strategy is - and what are the contents of Eddie's Will - neither of which anyone is likely to divulge to anyone any time soon.

Apparantly Burnley paying up to 2.25 million for him.  Maybe we can loan him in January

Juke was a decent player, but not worth your tears Rebel. Chances are he'd have signed a fat contract and turned shit overnight - they almost always do.

What hacks me off every season regardless of which clown is in charge is the last minute scramble for players, usually a striker. And once again our manager has put us in this position.

A decent manager would have identified realistic targets before the end of last season and spent the first few weeks of Summer making sure he secured one in plenty of time to get a full pre-season.

We all know, even the happy clappers, that Freedman will sign someone but it'll be a last minute panic buy that will take 6 weeks to "get match fit".

Natasha Whittam wrote:What hacks me off every season regardless of which clown is in charge is the last minute scramble for players, usually a striker. And once again our manager has put us in this position.

We made 6 signings almost straight away, so that's not really a fair criticism. Had the money been there we'd have signed a striker already, I don't think Dougie's holding off just for the thrill of doing it on deadline day.

bwfc1874 wrote:

We made 6 signings almost straight away, so that's not really a fair criticism. Had the money been there we'd have signed a striker already, I don't think Dougie's holding off just for the thrill of doing it on deadline day.

You seem to think you know Dougie. It's quite possible he thought he was going to sign Duke so had no back up plan.

I'll bet you now he signs a striker no more than a week before the Watford game and doesn't pick the new superstar because he isn't match fit.

But do you think that's his fault or the lack of money?

bwfc1874 wrote:But do you think that's his fault or the lack of money?

Definitely his fault.

Football management isn't just about money, it's about having the ability to spot potential in lower league or foreign players. Bruce Rioch could do it, so could Fat Sam.

Freedman can't.

bwfc1874 wrote:But do you think that's his fault or the lack of money?

Both.

We have no money - we all accept that.

A new striker is obviously a priority, just as it was at the end of last season.

We had no money then and we still haven't.

Nothing's changed.

And Freedman knew that at the end of last season.

So why didn't he target alternatives to The Duke, given that he must have known that if 'Boro wanted more than about £500k for him, it'd be a non-starter?

It just looks like we're doing our "usual" and will wind up buying some unproven gamble, right at the death......again.

Breadman wrote:

bwfc1874 wrote:But do you think that's his fault or the lack of money?

Both.

We have no money - we all accept that.

A new striker is obviously a priority, just as it was at the end of last season.

We had no money then and we still haven't.

Nothing's changed.

And Freedman knew that at the end of last season.

So why didn't he target alternatives to The Duke, given that he must have known that if 'Boro wanted more than about £500k for him, it'd be a non-starter?

It just looks like we're doing our "usual" and will wind up buying some unproven gamble, right at the death......again.