Trialists Play Waiting Game

Last updated : 16 July 2004 By Mark Heys
Sam Allardyce has told the players currently undergoing trials with the club that they must wait for a while longer to find out if they have done enough to earn themselves contracts with Bolton Wanderers.

Big Sam has taken a number of people on trial over the summer such as Jordi Cruyff, Fernando Hierro, Julio Cesar, Emerson and Carlos Kameni but the Bolton boss told the clubs official site www.bwfc.co.uk that he has to be wary not to stretch his budget otherwise he may miss out on prime targets.

At the moment Allardyce is holding back on offering deals to the trialists whom he sees more as squad players to keep funds free so that he can bring in the four or five first team standard players which he feels he will need for next seasons assault on the Premiership.

“We’ve had a few players in on trial and we haven’t yet moved with any of them.

“I won’t take what I consider a squad player rather than a player who would be a first team certainty because I want to save my budget for the four or five big boys that I need.

“Until those players are secured I won’t be spending any more of my budget because I don’t know how much any of these players are going to cost.

“We need to play the waiting game because I would be absolutely gutted if I had signed three of those players, whom I’ve had on trial, and then the right player I really wanted suddenly became available.

“I‘m not going to spend any of my money on squad players until I actually get first team members into the team. The squad has been brought to a bare minimum to pave the way for a bigger and more talented squad for next season.”