WANDERERS are steeling themselves for a £750,000 bid from League One rivals Huddersfield Town for club captain George Thomason.
According to reports on Sunday, the Yorkshiremen are prepared to test Bolton’s resolve with a bid for the 24-year-old midfielder, who is presently the club’s longest-serving outfield player.
Thomason guided the side to a friendly win over Orlando Pirates on Friday, but his future has been called into question following the arrival of Xavier Simons from Hull City and rumours of interest in Sweden-based Jesper Ceesay.
Despite an agreement between the two clubs on a fee, the Ceesay deal appears to have been scuttled by the player’s agent, Blash Hosseini.
In addition to Simons, Steven Schumacher already has Aaron Morley, Josh Sheehan, and Sonny Sharples-Ahmed in center midfield.
Thomason turned down a £1 million move to Bristol City in August 2023.
Furthermore, according to Sunday sources, Stockport County could turn to Will Forrester if they sell defender Ethan Pye.
Forrester is presently out with a hamstring injury and is not scheduled to return to training until next month, but according to sources, the promise of guaranteed game time at Edgeley Park might make the transfer appealing to the centre-half.
Schumacher gave Forrester the finest run of games of his Bolton career until an injury ended his season in April, but the approaching conversion to a back four means that competition for central defence is tight.
Chris Forino and Eoin Toal are the current right-sided choices, while George Johnston, Rich Taylor, and Sam Inwood are natural left-siders. It has also been widely speculated that Schumacher may bring in a more experienced center defender to ensure him full coverage.
Wanderers paid Port Vale £200,000 for former Stoke City trainee Forrester in the summer of 2023, but his time with the club has been disrupted by a number of injury concerns and accidents that have stopped him from establishing himself in the team.
His best run of form, however, occurred shortly after Schumacher’s debut, when he started 14 of 16 league and cup games.
Wanderers have already allowed Luke Southwood and Aaron Collins depart this summer, and Dan Nlundulu and Klaidi Lolos are available for transfer, with the majority of those decisions based on the different style and configuration they intend to use this season.
Plans to sign Ceesay came to come to an abrupt halt at the end of last week, when the player’s infamous agent, Hosseini, stated that he was only interested in “bigger clubs”.
“Norrköping came to an agreement with Bolton, but it was never interesting for us to go there,” he was quoted in the Swedish press.
The sale received a lot of attention in Scandinavia, with several condemnatory stories published regarding the financial demands made.
Wanderers have declined to comment, but are anticipated to move on to other targets, with one place remaining open for a foreign-based signing.
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