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Wanderers are “confident” they will be at the front of the queue to sign Marlon Fossey this summer.
As news broke that the Fulham wing-back had been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, Ian Evatt confirmed that he would press ahead with plans to bring him back to the UniBol next season on a permanent basis.
Bolton head to Crewe today hoping to resurrect distant hopes of a play-off spot in League One but Evatt says pursuing the 23-year-old this summer is not contingent on promotion.
“We want to sign him and why wouldn’t we?” he said. “He is a fantastic young player and we think he still has work to do and improvement to come.
“We feel we would be a really good home for him and we have told him that, the fans have told him that. But at the end of the day, it is out of our hands.
“He has a decision to make and he still has a year left with Fulham, so we will see what happens.”
Fossey’s performances for Wanderers in what has been his longest stint of senior football may well mean he has offers from elsewhere this summer.
But Evatt believes the defender’s experience in Lancashire will count for something when he makes his mind up about his future in the next few months.
“I am confident,” he said. “I was a player for so many years that I saw things their way, but now I’m on the other side of it. This is a two-way street. It’s not just whether he decides he wants to stay or not.
“We can offer him so much. We have given him regular first-team football, shown an immense amount of belief and trust in him, treated him like he is one of our own and the fans have really bought into him and what he has achieved on the pitch for us.
“A lot can be said for happiness in football – it is difficult and challenging.
“I don’t necessarily want to sign players whose only motivation is finance, I don’t believe that is the right way to go about things.
“I believe that if you’re performing well, you are happy and you are doing your job day-to-day, finances will naturally come to you.
“Good performance and finance are aligned with each other and you will get rewarded if you are doing well.
“That’s the kind of club we are and it’s just the football industry in general.
“So come here, enjoy your football, produce the goods, and grow with us. We want players who will go on a journey, we’ve spoken about that a lot and he’s certainly one of those.”
Asked whether Fulham would be a willing seller in the summer, Evatt added: “I think Fulham have kind of showed their hand a little bit.
“They are going to more than likely be a Premier League team so again that changes things for him. So we will see.”
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