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The Wanderers boss confirmed that the 28-year old marksman rejected the overtures of both the Trotters and Tottenham Hotspur in favour of a loan move to French outfit AS Monaco, a switch that Allardyce beleives has worked out well for the Spanish international as his new club are now in the Semi Finals of the Champions League.
Morientes is a good friend of the Bolton midfielder Ivan Campo following their days together in Madrid and Allardyce was hoping that this would work in the Trotters favour, however like most players playing on the big stage European football is always a big plus point and that is something which eventually worked against Bolton.
"We could have got Morientes here because he is a big mate of Ivan Campo [the Bolton midfielder], Tottenham were trying to sign him too, But the problem we have is that most foreign players coming here want European football as well as the Premiership. We could afford the money and [could have] signed Morientes like we signed Campo." Allardyce said
"We got him on the cheap because Real Madrid need to move players off their wage bill. There is no financial benefit now in going to Monaco rather than here, but they have the Champions' League. In the end he made the right choice."