JOEL Lynch will be invited back into the Wanderers camp this week despite heading home from Bolton at the weekend.

The free agent defender was strongly tipped to sign a contract with the Whites after linking up with Ian Evatt’s squad for training last week.

But his chances of a deal looked dead and buried after he left the the North West at the weekend, with no planned return.

We have now learned the player has now received an invite back into the camp at some stage this week, although training sessions will be limited because of a midweek game against Morecambe.

Bolton boss Evatt had chased Lynch’s signature in the summer and had been impressed with the former Wales international during his trial. But with left-sided centre-halves Ryan Delaney and Reiss Greenidge already at his disposal, 33-year-old Lynch is fighting for a congested spot in the Wanderers squad.

Speaking at his press conference this afternoon, Evatt felt the player could now be within budget after initially struggling to agree terms with him at the start of the season - but refuses to rush into a decision.

“He’s on trial and he’s a player that I’ve known about for a long, long time," he said.

"He’s one that I looked at in the summer and obviously similarly to Kieran and lots of players, when you’re leaving a big club on a big salary, your expectations are different and in this salary cap, that priced them out of the market for us at that stage.

"However, the longer time goes on and the longer they are without a football club, they then become within our budget.

"We’re having a good look at him and we’ll not rush into making decisions. We like him, I think he likes the look of us, but we’ll make sure that we do our due diligence and have a good look before we make a call on it.”

 

Lynch had trained with Southend United until recently but after failing to agree terms at Roots Hall he travelled up to see what Bolton had to offer.

Southend boss Mark Molesley believes the defender is on the radar of a few other clubs.

“With him being a free agent and a good player he’s going to be wanted by a whole host of teams,” he said. “He wasn’t ready to do anything with us yet.”