In, Out, Shake It All About: January 2025 Transfer Window

[Mar]

Our signings should be starters. So a new CB would replace Johnston, an new attacking midfielder would replace Lolos and a new striker would replace McAtee in our starting lineup. So Best Team would be:
Baxter

Toal
Santos
New signing

Tutu
Sheehan or Matete
Dempsey or Thomason
New Signing
Schoen

New signing
Collins

Very strong team in the making.

I'm not sure all those new signings are warranted. I think we'd do well to make best use of what we have rather than looking elsewhere.

Toal, Santos, Johnston

That's a decent back three for this league. You could argue a replacement for Johnston would be ideal given Johnston's injuries may have put him back a step, but time will tell with that. Mads Andersen (remember him?) may be a good shout in that regard but there's a strong possibility he's ended up with the same injury concerns. Comfortably good enough for Luton to splash the cash whilst they were in the Premiership, but not getting game time at Luton this season (156 mins from a possible 1080 mins where he's been in the squad, perhaps more where he would've been available but not selected). That's not to say Johnston would be departing, there's others more suited.

Midfielder, i'm in full agreement with. We're too top heavy so need someone to come in and contribute in the centre of the park when we need to give a different option. If I were the manager i'd be looking to see if Maghoma was interested. Not now, but near the end of the January window. Clearly he's getting into the Brentford manager's thoughts (50 mins in the last 5 PL games), but that may just be testing the water. Can't see it happening for us tbh, but wouldn't hurt to ask the question. First team at Bolton, or few minutes here or there at Brentford. Presumably we have a reasonably decent reputation with the likes of Liverpool and Man City in terms of progressing their youth so maybe there's something to be had from other Premier League reserves.

As for a new forward, that would depend on any departures for me, Adeboyejo looks the most likely. He's got 3 goals in 19 appearances this season which is very underwhelming, but given the role he's doing it's not like we're playing to his strengths or being very creative to get him opportunities. We'll start to see our strikers shine when we start creating chances for them, we're not doing that at the minute with any consistent regularity so they're bound not to look as prolific as they should.

[boltonboris]

We’ve sold 14 year old Jason William to Liverpool. £2m is the figure mooted on another forum, but can’t see that mentioned elsewhere online

[The_Gun]

We’ve sold 14 year old Jason William to Liverpool. £2m is the figure mooted on another forum, but can’t see that mentioned elsewhere online

Eh? Where have you seen this?

[Bertie Wooster]

We’ve sold 14 year old Jason William to Liverpool. £2m is the figure mooted on another forum, but can’t see that mentioned elsewhere online

Eh? Where have you seen this?

He's an U14 winger and definitely signed for Liverpool recently, however a fee of £2M looks a little high - be great if it was anything near that ?

[The_Gun]

We’ve sold 14 year old Jason William to Liverpool. £2m is the figure mooted on another forum, but can’t see that mentioned elsewhere online

Eh? Where have you seen this?

He's an U14 winger and definitely signed for Liverpool recently, however a fee of £2M looks a little high - be great if it was anything near that ?

I’ve not seen this reported anywhere, but if it’s a real thing then surely it’ll be nowhere near £2m.

[GhostoftheBok]

I’ve not seen this reported anywhere, but if it’s a real thing then surely it’ll be nowhere near £2m.

The deal was done a while ago. Think he started training with Liverpool last week.

No idea of the fee, but £2m does sound very high.

[GhostoftheBok]

What I will say is that this sounded like a "Oh well, this is why academies at our level can't have nice things" moment when I first heard about it. However, if there is a really substantial fee involved then that's great news. The academy making money would be huge for us.

[jmjhb]

And subject to a lot of clauses. We probably got 100k up-front

[jmjhb]

The reason I think these rumours of outgoing players has a semblance of truth is that we have to sell before we spend again.

[GhostoftheBok]

And subject to a lot of clauses. We probably got 100k up-front

Like I say, no idea what the fee is. However, it'd be unusual for the upfront to be less than 25% of the total.

It doesn't really matter, so long as clauses are realistic and you have a sell-on. You want the academy to to make money over the long term. If this kid is bringing in 7-figures that's fantastic news.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

And subject to a lot of clauses. We probably got 100k up-front

Like I say, no idea what the fee is. However, it'd be unusual for the upfront to be less than 25% of the total.

It doesn't really matter, so long as clauses are realistic and you have a sell-on. You want the academy to to make money over the long term. If this kid is bringing in 7-figures that's fantastic news.

It is. And/or/even if the up-front fee is relatively low but the sell-on % is high - so if he becomes blazingly brilliant down the line we could even cop eight figures when Real Madrid buy him. Low chance and all that but it's not impossible.

[jmjhb]

Oh, I agree with you both completely. Still the figure i quoted is fine, easy to find distractions like girls and nitrous oxide at that age.

[boltonboris]

Another lad in the same year group on his way to City Football Group. Not sure of the name as of yet, but expected to command a relatively high fee.

[boltonboris]

Sad that we're likely losing Charles, as he is our best goalscorer and one of the best in the division, but if we fetch a couple of Million to re-invest better depth, then great, but we really need to command decent fees for our players soon. Ideally, our "net" spend needs to come down rapidly

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Sad that we're likely losing Charles, as he is our best goalscorer and one of the best in the division, but if we fetch a couple of Million to re-invest better depth, then great, but we really need to command decent fees for our players soon. Ideally, our "net" spend needs to come down rapidly

On the last bit, completely agreed. And there's not much to disagree with in the first bit either; I'd add that as well as the goals, he has often set the tone for the workrate and pressing and general giving-a-sh1t. If Evatt sells him next month it will be a huge, perhaps career-defining risk; in the manager's defence, he has done similar before (Doyle, Sarce, Dapo) while still tracking upwards. That last bit's the key...

Generally, this is a slightly weird window. Not least as nobody is 100% sure the manager won't come under huge job pressure during the window. But also, as Ghost notes on the Contract Expiry thread, there isn't the dead-wood elbow-room of sidelined contract-lapsing players who are easy to get rid of. As a reminder, here are the contract expiry dates:

2025: Baxter, Coleman, Jones, Santos, Dacres-Cogley, Arfield, Williams (plus Matete loan)
2026: Southwood, Forrester, Johnston, Osei-Tutu, Dempsey, Mendes Gomes, Adeboyejo, Nlundulu, Charles
2027: Toal, Forino (!), Sheehan, Thomason, Morley, Schön, Collins, Lolos, McAtee

The 2026 players (like Dion) we could get fees for, but buying clubs might also be tempted to keep their powder dry to summer - depends on their urgency/desperation. The seven players lapsing this summer include no Declan Johns; I assume nobody will want the absent Joel Coleman or the ancient Scott Arfield, and the other five are all fairly central to our plans.

But then, this is Evatt's squad, assembled over nearly half a decade. If he wants new shirts, he's gotta take some old ones to the charity shop, eBay them or throw them out the window. If he gets a good fee, then all the better.

[GhostoftheBok]

Sad that we're likely losing Charles

If we do we do.

I like Dion, but he's not putting in the same shift he was and he's not a good enough player not to. Dion going through the motions is still a better shift than most forwards, but he doesn't have the snap and urgency we all loved in him.

He's also not scoring enough. He has 5 from open play and that's below his personal XG. He has the worst non-pen XG return of any of our strikers this season. That drop-off started last season and he'd had 14 months of solidly below XG returns. Prior to that he was miles better.

Whether the stuff in his personal life has had an impact or the timing is coincidental I don't know, but he's not been good enough.

[officer_dibble]

I’d rather sell Charles than let him see his contract out. But I can see a new manager and a new team getting the best out of him again, and that will be sad to see.

[The_Gun]

Why do people think Charles is leaving?

[GhostoftheBok]

he has often set the tone for the workrate and pressing and general giving-a-sh1t.

Dion SHOULD be one of the key players in a promotion-chasing Bolton side.

His ability to hunt-down defenders and panic goalkeepers was unlike anything I'd seen from a Wanderers player in over a decade. The fact he also scored goals made him incredibly valuable to us.

If all our forwards were at the top of their game we'd be laughing, but not one of them is.

Collins is scoring worldies from time to time and I enjoy watching him quite often, but then he has games where he's absolutely useless.
McAtee just can't get it right at key times.
Vic is out of sorts.
Dion looks like he's distracted and frustrated.

You can lay loads of that at the door of the manager, whose job it is to get heads right and minds focused; but whatever the individual reasons that group should be the scourge of the division and it's just not.

The "career defining" (quite possibly right) question for Evatt is whether that group can be sorted out, or whether it needs a shock. Dion going and a new guy coming in would be a shock. It would say "Sort it out, none of you are safe"...the trouble is, Dion would have to go to a better position for us to get the money we need. That means the other message is, "Underperform for a bit and we'll send you somewhere better."

The same may apply to Vic swanning off the Turkey. "I had a bad 6 months and now I have more money and new teeth, lads."

[boltonboris]

Why do people think Charles is leaving?

We're apparently actively looking to move him on. QPR, Stoke, Preston ready with bids - I'm sure GOTB knows more than I do.

He's a fans favorite, but I agree it does seem like his time with us is coming to an end. Snidey twitter remarks from his brother, reduced productivity, playing out of position, or on the bench.. Just feels inevitable to me

When he's at it, he's one of the best in the division, but if we can get decent dollar for him, it's a good solution for everyone. He'd go with a heartfelt thanks from everybody, I presume