Coyle has money to spend on new players
6:20am Saturday 28th January 2012 in Latest By Marc Iles
OWEN Coyle reckons he will be backed by funds to land his top targets before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, but warned he won’t be wasting a penny.
The Wanderers boss wants two more signings – believed to include a winger and a striker – to boost his side’s survival bid.
The Bolton News understands that the £2.5million deal to take Tim Ream from New York Red Bulls had been sanctioned before Gary Cahill signed for Chelsea for £7m.
So with cash from the sale of the England international in his pocket, Coyle finds himself as one of the few Premier League managers able to kickstart what has been a stagnant transfer window to date.
It also tests Blackpool’s theory that Wanderers could not afford one of their confirmed targets, winger Matt Phillips, who is available for around £3m.
“We’re active in pursuing a couple of players,” Coyle said.
“Time will tell how that goes but we’re certainly looking to add to the squad we’ve got.
“I always have a figure in my mind about what a player is worth, as will his club. And there are certainly targets of mine out there that would involve money, that’s the best way I can put it.”
Coyle has juggled his finances well so far and may yet get a further boost with reports that Sunderland are poised to make a £1.5m offer for talismanic front man Kevin Davies.
As we reported earlier this week, Martin O’Neill wants the striker at the Stadium of Light and is ready to test Wanderers’ resolve to keep the club skipper.
And while the Whites look set to continue their policy of spending only on young, hungry players, it seems Coyle could be tempted to spend if the price is right.
“I don’t know what everyone else has had, but since coming here two years ago, I haven’t spent any money, profit-wise,” he said.
“There are reasons why and I have no problem with that. I know this is a transition, and sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of yourself because as a manager I have to make sure that this club runs well for years to come.
“If that means we haven’t got the funds other clubs have, then so be it, but we’ll make the best of what we have got and there’s certainly one or two we’d like to add.”
Coyle isn’t worried that the fact his side have laboured in and around the bottom three all season could put off potential signings.
The Scot is confident that if he gets a chance to speak freely with an incoming player over the next couple of days, that the task of selling what the club have to offer is not a difficult one.
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I can’t recall too many occasions where I have sat down with a player and he hasn’t come to join us, no matter what club I have been at,” he said.
“In this transfer window I haven’t sat down with anyone and they have turned us down. The first thing you have to do is agree with the relevant football club, and we haven’t done that.
“I always feel that when you get an opportunity to speak to players you can tell them how your football club works.
“We’ve been able to entice Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge from elite clubs, and that tells you that as a football club you know what you are doing.”
But the Wanderers boss has poured cold water on speculation that he is about to reignite interest in Guniea international striker Ismael Bangoura, who is currently on duty at the African Cup of Nations.
“There was an interest in August in Ismael Bangoura, who was playing in Dubai at the time, but nothing came of it,” he said.
“Maybe that’s where it has come from, some old quotes being regurgitated. There won’t be anything pursued on that front.”
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