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MONEY was not the sole reason Wanderers missed out on signing Liverpool winger Jordon Ibe – who could line up against them for Derby County today.
Dougie Freedman admits he was “close“ to bringing the 18-year-old flyer to the Macron Stadium at the start of the season but feels other forces may have been at work preventing him from doing so.
Sources in the East Midlands suggest staff at Liverpool influenced the youngster’s late change-of-heart.
But Freedman insists there are no hard feelings that the deal fell through.
“It’s well documented that we tried to get Jordon in – but those kind of things happen,” he told The Bolton News. “We missed out.
“I don’t know why that happened. I liked the player, I had a feeling we were close, but then Derby stepped in. However (it was that) they got him, they got him.
“Money does come in somewhere along the line but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just money.
“We just need to hold our hands up and move on quickly from that one.”
Ibe faces stiff competition for a starting place this afternoon but did his chances no harm with a man-of-the-match display in the Capital One Cup victory over Reading in midweek.
Freedman has taken note of the way Derby have carefully assembled their squad in recent years under Nigel Clough, and his successor Steve McClaren.
“They have been building for the last four or five years,” he said. “I remember when they signed Jamie Ward, that was the beginning, then they brought in Richard Keogh, the captain.
“You add a goalkeeper and then a striker, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the position Derby are in, with a very good squad.
“I remember speaking a lot about it with Nigel (Clough) at the time and it took him a while to get some of the bigger earners from the Premier League, like Robbie Savage, moved on.
“I think Steve McClaren came along at a time when the club was doing okay.
“He was quite fortunate in terms of what the club had, so he needed to just put his touches on it.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/bolton_wanderers/11499714.Bolton_Wanderers_boss_Dougie_Freedman_explains_missing_out_on_Jordon_Ibe/
Dougie Freedman admits he was “close“ to bringing the 18-year-old flyer to the Macron Stadium at the start of the season but feels other forces may have been at work preventing him from doing so.
Sources in the East Midlands suggest staff at Liverpool influenced the youngster’s late change-of-heart.
But Freedman insists there are no hard feelings that the deal fell through.
“It’s well documented that we tried to get Jordon in – but those kind of things happen,” he told The Bolton News. “We missed out.
“I don’t know why that happened. I liked the player, I had a feeling we were close, but then Derby stepped in. However (it was that) they got him, they got him.
“Money does come in somewhere along the line but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just money.
“We just need to hold our hands up and move on quickly from that one.”
Ibe faces stiff competition for a starting place this afternoon but did his chances no harm with a man-of-the-match display in the Capital One Cup victory over Reading in midweek.
Freedman has taken note of the way Derby have carefully assembled their squad in recent years under Nigel Clough, and his successor Steve McClaren.
“They have been building for the last four or five years,” he said. “I remember when they signed Jamie Ward, that was the beginning, then they brought in Richard Keogh, the captain.
“You add a goalkeeper and then a striker, and all of a sudden you find yourself in the position Derby are in, with a very good squad.
“I remember speaking a lot about it with Nigel (Clough) at the time and it took him a while to get some of the bigger earners from the Premier League, like Robbie Savage, moved on.
“I think Steve McClaren came along at a time when the club was doing okay.
“He was quite fortunate in terms of what the club had, so he needed to just put his touches on it.”
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/wanderers/bolton_wanderers/11499714.Bolton_Wanderers_boss_Dougie_Freedman_explains_missing_out_on_Jordon_Ibe/
