Bolton make multiple £1million-plus transfer bids

Ian Evatt has confirmed that Wanderers have bid £1million-plus for up to four different players in the current transfer window.

The Bolton boss, who has been strongly linked with moves for Brest midfielder Karamoko Dembele, Luton Town attacker John McAtee and Kilmarnock wing-back Danny Armstrong, has hinted for the first time that he may have to move on to other targets if progress is not made soon.

Evatt revealed he recently lost out on one of the top names on his shortlist but has ‘live’ bids for a number of players, some of which are involved in European competition over the next week.

With a month to go in the window and just over a fortnight until the start of the League One season, time is not on Bolton’s side as they seek to bring in high-calibre talent without spending irresponsibly.

And Evatt admits the chase could go right down to the wire.

“It’s possible,” he told The Bolton News. “In this window we have made three or four seven-figure bids for players, which is a huge statement for us. But we are trying to sign players who have a high ceiling and who we think are still good value at those figures.

“Obviously, the clubs they are at value them higher at the moment and we might have to draw a line in the sand and stick to our principles, see what develops as the window goes on.

“Things are changing daily at the moment, things that are going in a positive direction, things that aren’t, but that’s just the transfer window.

“We have to be patient to bring in what we want. We have a clear plan and idea what that looks like and we’ll work hard to make sure it happens.”

Evatt hopes to have a clearer picture on a couple of potential signings once qualifiers for the Europa League and Conference League have taken place.

He remains upbeat that some business can be done in time for the start of the new season but insists that the club’s methodical approach in the market is the right move.

“We know what we want to do, who we want to bring in,” he said. “The board have been incredible, making significant finance available for us – the biggest budget I have had since I have been here. We just have to make sure we get the right ones in.

“To be honest, we don’t tend to spin lots of plates. We have tried to ear-mark who we want and go after them. We have made our stance pretty clear.

“We lost out on one, who went to a top Championship team, and that is probably the first time we have lost out on a player since I have been here. We have to swallow that, take it, but it is the calibre of player we are going after, those who are better than this level and ready to play in the next one should we get there.

“There are things evolving all the time but we are in a pretty positive place. Once we get the injuries back, get one or two through the door who are starting to move, then come the start of the season people will be pretty comfortable with where we are at.”

Source

I don't get this?

1 - Where is the money coming from?

2 - Why is he making things public if he is being truthful - Evatt, I'll give you £1m for Joe Bloggs - Joe Bloggs team, we want £2m for him and we KNOW you can afford him right now because you've told everyone you have £4m transfer budget and you haven't spent any of it - so Joe Bloggs is obviously your top transfer target.

3 - Or is it - Evatt, we made four £1m bids (for Kane, Bellingham, Messi and Ronaldo) but their clubs knocked us back - so we go with what we have?

It must be the money from the bond, we didn't get promoted so they didn't to have to pay the bonus i'm guessing?

Norpig wrote:It must be the money from the bond, we didn't get promoted so they didn't to have to pay the bonus i'm guessing?

I doubt it.

They raised £4.5m from the bond and the bonus was (and still is I believe) a 10% payment - so £450,000 (or just one eighth of the mythical £4m transfer kitty that we seem to have).

From day one I've never understood why FV were here or how they could afford to run the club - the business has run at a loss every year since and some of the debts carried over from before the Administration still are outstanding.  So it is now looking more and more to me as a 'vanity' project and independently financed on a personal basis.

The most likely financier would seem to be Nick Mason (Pink Floyd drummer) who seems to have some sort of close relationship with Sharon...

The Times article from 2019

Money from Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason stopped Bolton hitting the wall
https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/money-from-pink-floyd-drummer-nick-mason-stopped-bolton-hitting-the-wall-sdr9fqskd

Obviously I have no idea if he is, or even if he is why he is doing so - but the money is coming from somewhere and one would think that if it was coming as a loan, then BWFC would be a high risk for such loans if these loans are not secured against assets - and no new charges are shown as outstanding on FV Companies House records.

In other words the money is coming from a mate (or family member) rather than a bank, sort of thing and isn't secured against say the stadium in case FV can't pay the loan back.

One could argue that if FV buys a £1m player then they could always sell them for £1m (or more) if whoever is putting their money in, wants it back - but that is a bit risky as the likes of Dan and Vic who we have bought would not (I would think) bring in the money we paid for them.

Anyway it is all pretty meaningless as such until whoever is financing us reaches a point where they've had enough - and then we will be in a similar position as to when Eddie Davies had spent up to his limit - and that ended up with Ken Anderson and then Administration!

Obviously no bids are a done deal so even if we intend to spend ONE million, we could make hundreds of one million bids if we wanted to.
We may also be looking to move players on and the reported million offered for GT last season put things into perspective.
But I think the massive spending already undertaken by Brum and others has heated the market in League 1 and probably changed for the worse especially for teams lower down the pyramid.
The thing that is grinding my gears though -as Sluffy points out - is why the hell does Iles have to advertise the fact that we have money for transfers? Especially as there are apparently bids currently under consideration. How the hell is that going to help the club?

wanderlust wrote:Obviously no bids are a done deal so even if we intend to spend ONE million, we could make hundreds of one million bids if we wanted to.
We may also be looking to move players on and the reported million offered for GT last season put things into perspective.
But I think the massive spending already undertaken by Brum and others has heated the market in League 1 and probably changed for the worse especially for teams lower down the pyramid.
The thing that is grinding my gears though -as Sluffy points out - is why the hell does Iles have to advertise the fact that we have money for transfers? Especially as there are apparently bids currently under consideration. How the hell is that going to help the club?

Well tbf to Iles, that's what Evatt said 'on the record' to him.

Evatt must be happy for that to be out there in the public domain.

I guess in someway it even could validate that we have made serious £1m bids, as I would suspect clubs, agents, players are all on the football grapevine and it is unlikely that any approach whether it be for 50p or £100m isn't kept a secret for long.

Why would Evatt say it if we hadn't, sort of thing, what does he achieve other than massive disappointment from the fans if he doesn't deliver us a million pound signing or two?

The Season Tickets have mostly been sold - so he isn't pushing that.


It all seems slightly odd to me.

One minute the club is saying it has slashed capital projects this year (pitch improvement for instance) to fund transfers, then the next moment we are seemingly waiving around £4m - are we actually poor or rich???

The books say we are poor - the £4m suggest we are rich - it can't be both.


Just to simplify a bit - the business isn't braking even and has never done (so we must be poor) however we keep find money for transfers (so we must be rich) - the money can't be coming from the business (the business is in debt), so the money must be coming from outside the business - and it isn't from the Swiss this time (Nick Mason?)

That's the best sense I can make of what is happening.