Bolton Wanderers: Bolton..

POOLE AGREES NEW BOLTON DEAL


Veteran goalkeeper Kevin Poole has signed a new one-year deal with Bolton Wanderers.

The 39-year-old shot-stopper, who made three cup appearances for Sam Allardyce's Premiership side last season, will continue to provide cover for regular incumbent Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Allardyce told the club's official website, www.bwfc.premiumtv.co.uk: "Kevin has done a fantastic job for us during the 18 months that he has been here. He's the ultimate professional and I'm delighted to have him on board for another season."

Bolton are still in talks with Bernard Mendy and Florent Laville over deals to bring both players to the Reebok Stadium on a permanent basis.

French pair Mendy and Laville helped the Wanderers retain their Barclaycard Premiership place last season after moving to the Reebok Stadium on loan from Paris St Germain and Lyon respectively.

Talks with Laville are at an advanced stage, although no deal has yet been agreed, whilst the club could still sign Mendy despite the arrival of Greek international Stylianos Giannakopoulos.

Chairman Phil Gartside said of former France Under-21 international Mendy on the club's official website, www.bwfc.co.uk: "There is still an outside possibility that we may resurrect the deal and bring him back. But, as things stand, the deal is a bit on the expensive side."

Moves for central defender Laville are at a more advanced stage but a Wanderers spokesperson would only say: "We are still in negotiations."

Bolton have agreed a three-year deal to bring Greek international Stylianos Giannakopoulos to the Reebok Stadium.

The highly-rated 28-year-old midfielder turned down an offer to stay with his current club Olympiakos and will instead join Bolton on July 1.

Giannakopoulos has been capped 17 times for Greece and his 13 goals helped Olympiakos clinch their domestic title last season.

"Stylianos is a highly-rated player in his homeland and he is looking forward to playing for us," Bolton boss Sam Allardyce said on the club's official website, www.bwfc.co.uk.

"I have been tracking his career for quite some time and I am confident that he will add a new dimension to our squad.

"His main attribute remains his ability to make late runs into the penalty area and his flair to shoot accurately from range. He is an attacking midfielder who knows how to score goals.

"He has done it at the highest level in Europe in the Champions League and he is relishing the prospect of playing alongside our top-line players in the Premiership."


Now yhis will be a good signing if they pull it off....

Jay-Jay Okocha has indicated he will leave Bolton in the summer if they are relegated.

But the gifted Nigerian midfielder admits it would break his heart if he had to go down that road.

Bolton entertain Middlesbrough on Sunday knowing a victory will secure their top flight status for a third successive year.

If they are relegated then there is likely to be a mass exodus of players, led by Okocha, who arrived from Paris St Germain in the close season.

He took time to settle in after playing in the World Cup but since the turn of the year he has won over the supporters with a string of impressive displays and crucial goals.

Okocha said: "I still have a year left on my contract and I have made it clear that I would not like to play in Division One.

"I don't want this to be my last game for Bolton.

"There is nothing better than knowing you are well accepted by the fans and I have enjoyed this season.

Okocha indicated today that he would very much like to play on the right for Man Utd now that Beckham is Madrid bound.
He has to be careful, he is the fans favourite at Bolton and things like this won't go down well.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce spoke of his delight after French defender Florent Laville signed a two-year deal with the club.

Laville arrived on loan from Lyon during the January transfer window and helped Wanderers avoid relegation from the Barclaycard Premiership.

The Trotters paid Lyon �500,000 to secure the 29-year-old on a permanent basis.


Not a bad signing for Bolton and the fee wasn't to big....

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce has given Kevin Davies a chance to earn a permanent move to the Reebok Stadium.

The 26-year-old striker has left Barclaycard Premiership rivals Southampton and will link up with the Bolton squad for their training trip to Italy.

Sam Allardyce has revealed he "came close" to bringing Arsenal striker Dennis Bergkamp to Bolton.

The Dutch striker, who is currently out of contract at Highbury, had talks with Allardyce but turned down a move as he did not want to move north.

Allardyce told Bolton's official website, www.bwfc.co.uk: "I came close to signing Dennis Bergkamp but he was not interested in coming north to play.

"It's disappointing because he would have been a fantastic acquisition for this football club. He was out of contract at Arsenal and we could have budgeted for his wages."

It now appears Arsenal and the player have found some common ground and the 34-year-old star, who has remained in Holland instead of returning to pre-season training, should return to north London later this week.

His agent Rob Jansen said: "I have a feeling we will solve this within 48 hours.

"Hopefully the outcome will be that Dennis returns on Thursday."

Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock has added two more players to his squad with the signings of Andy Parkinson and Mike Whitlow.

Both players are free agents and are expected to go straight into the squad for the pre-season tour of the south west which starts with Saturday's friendly against Cheltenham.

Experienced defender Whitlow, 35, has joined the Blades after rejecting a new contract with Bolton.

Warnock said: "We are delighted to get Mike on board - I feel his experience in central defence and at full-back will be an asset to the squad."

Goalkeeper Rhys Evans is eager to sign for his hometown club Swindon despite interest from West Ham and Premiership side Bolton.

The England Under-21 international held talks with Robins chief executive Mark Devlin on Tuesday, and although no deal was concluded, Evans is hopeful the move will go through.

"I want to come to Swindon," he told the Evening Advertiser. "I have already expressed my thanks to Glenn Roeder [West Ham boss] and Sam Allardyce [Bolton boss] for their interest but I want the move to happen.

"Hopefully a deal can be reached. I think it would be a deal which would benefit both parties. I'm certainly not going to bankrupt Swindon Town."

Summer signing Stelios Giannakopoulos is in line to make his Bolton debut in the pre-season friendly against Ballymena.

The Greece international is joined in Sam Allardyce's squad by Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff.

Bolton will end their mini tour of Northern Ireland with a friendly against Portadown on Saturday.

Bolton have signed defender Ivan Campo on a three-year contract, subject to a medical, after his successful loan spell at The Reebok.

The Real Madrid defender on Thursday agreed to make his stay permanent after his contract with the Spanish champions expired.

Manager Sam Allardyce told the club's official website: "Both parties have reached an agreement and we are happy to have agreed Ivan's services for the next three years.

"He was a key figure for us last season and will be vital for us next season."

Allardyce had given up hope of signing Campo last month when he experienced difficulties with the former Spain international's agent.

Campo is quite a good player so its good bolton have got him as they will find it tough again this season in the premier league.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce snapped up Brazilian striker Mario Jardel - then received a further pre-season boost from another of his foreign stars when Jay-Jay Okocha announced he will only play in competitive matches for Nigeria.

Jardel - subject to passing a medical - could make his debut for Wanderers in the opening game of the season against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Bolton's new recruit Stelios Giannakopoulos will come face to face with some old pals on Saturday.

The Barclaycard Premiership club finalise their preparations for the new season by meeting Greek champions Olympiakos at the Reebok Stadium in a friendly.

Giannakopoulos was one of their main players before deciding to leave and try his luck in England.

He signed for Bolton six days after helping Olympiakos clinch the league title in May.

The international midfielder is looking forward to Saturday's match which comes a week before Bolton face Manchester United at Old Trafford in their opening fixture.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce is intent on drafting in another striker despite the arrival of Kevin Davies.

And Allardyce has admitted that his top target was Eygptian international Mido, who decided to leave Ajax for Marseille.

The Bolton boss also made tentative inquiries about bringing in Birmingham-bound Luciano Figueroa and Arsenal's Denis Bergkamp.

Jay-Jay Okocha's gift for languages as well as football saw him named Bolton's new club captain today on his 30th birthday.

The Nigeria midfielder, who is fluent in French and Spanish, replaces Gudni Bergsson, who retired last season.

Okocha will wear the armband for the first time at Old Trafford on Saturday when Bolton face Manchester United.

Bolton have completed the signing of defender Emerson Thome from Sunderland on a one-year deal.

The Brazilian became Sunderland's record signing in August 2000 when he moved from Chelsea for �4.5million.

However, given the Black Cats' dire financial problems following relegation from the Barclaycard Premiership, the 31-year-old was granted a free transfer after making nearly 50 appearances at the Stadium of Light, which yielded two goals.

Bolton pulled off a good draw today against Arsenal,they have been doing well lately and are moving up the table.Okocha and Campo had real good games.

Well sam continues to wheel and deal and always seems to get hold of quailty players,What the hell is the attraction to Bolton???

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce is ready to hand new signing Javi Moreno a debut against Manchester United on Wednesday.

The Wanderers boss was impressed with the way the Spanish striker went about his first training session with the squad on Monday after joining on loan from Atletico Madrid