The One And Only Wanderers · https://theoneandonlywanderers.news/news/how-the-european-market-helped-bolton-wanderers-this-summer-155512
"Vital step": How the European market helped Bolton Wanderers this summer
06.10.26, 08:00 Updated 05.10.26, 22:24 3 Minute Read
After creating a promotion winning team last season, Bolton Wanderers faced a new challenge, to create a team that could compete in the Championship on a budget lower than those around them.
Steven Schumacher and Director of Football Fergal Harkin got to work, looking in new areas of the market that had come open to the club.
With promotion, it equalled new spots for Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) players, doubling the number available in the squad from two to four. Simply put, it opened the door as an opportunity for Bolton to look overseas for recruits this summer.
Harkin, with his links to Belgium, set his sights on a number of players. The likes of Atsuke Ito, Kyliane Dong and Theo Bair all moved in from Europe, with Wanderers even naming their first dedicated European scout in over ten years, in the form of Laurent D'Affnay.
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Matt Bottomley
EditorA lifelong Bolton Wanderers fan, this club is the reason I began my journalism career. Since sitting in the stands as a kid over 20 years ago, I have gone on to work for the likes of the BBC and The Telegraph before everything led me back to here, to the football club I love.