Owen Coyle admits he is “sad” that fine Wanderers loan spells did not turn into sustained careers at the very top level for Jack Wilshere and Daniel Sturridge.

The pair were big hits during temporary stints with the Whites during the early part of their careers, Wilshere from Arsenal in 2010 and Sturridge when a rising star at Chelsea 12 months later.

Both went on to win England honours and mixed it at the sharp end of the Premier League but are perhaps as well known for their unfortunate injury records.

It means at 29 Wilshere is on the lookout for a new club after leaving Bournemouth and Sturridge, 31, has been a free agent since leaving Turkish side Trabzonspor in March 2020, serving a ban for breaching betting rules in the interim.

Last week Sturridge described Coyle as “everything I needed in a coach and more” when posting on social media about his favourite managers and it’s clear the respect is mutual.

“I was very fortunate that the managers in the Premier League I had a great relationship with because they saw how my teams played and from that I was able to utilise the loan market,” Coyle told The Michael Clarke Show podcast.

“I gave Jack Wilshere his Premier League debut at 17 years of age because I had a good relationship with Arsene Wenger.

“I was able to get Daniel Sturridge who was a great lad, played every game for me, never missed a training session, and I found it quite sad later on because Jack and Daniel never missed a game or training session and they were both blighted in their careers with injuries.

“Those two boys had the potential to be world-class players.

“Those two kids were sensational and I was very fortunate that they had mesmerising spells for me at Bolton Wanderers.”

With Wilshere, Coyle was desperate to extend the midfielder’s Bolton stay into a second season and came pretty close to doing so. “I thought I was getting Jack back,” he added.

“Jack played six months for us, was unbelievable and I was speaking to Arsene nearly every other day.

“‘When can I get back in for pre-season?’ ‘You’ll get him but we’re going to play a pre-season tournament’.

“They went and played in this tournament they had Fabregas, Denilson, they had world-class players in the middle of the park but, I thought this could happen and it did, Jack was the best player at the tournament.

“Arsene called and said ‘Owen, I’m really sorry, I need to build my team around him, this boy is special’. I knew that, I’d worked with him for six months and seen it in the Premier League.

“I asked about getting him up until Christmas but Arsene said ‘No, he’s going to start for me every week’.”