WANDERERS have put no timescale on a return for Will Forrester – but Steven Schumacher says the defender must get himself fit and firing before considering his future with the club.
Stockport County and Barnsley were linked with moves for the 24-year-old centre-half during the transfer window even though he was side-lined with a hamstring injury.
Forrester has not played for Bolton since limping out of a 1-0 win against Bristol Rovers at the start of April, and though he has made an initial return to the training ground there is no indication yet when he will be considered for first team football again.
Schumacher is hoping Forrester, along with Kyle Dempsey and Jordi Osei-Tutu, can ease themselves back into contention over the coming weeks. Only then, says the Bolton boss, could they begin to talk about the January window and what may lie in wait.
“We have had to be careful with Will because of the history of injuries,” he told The Bolton News. “I know he's been out on the grass with the physios, I know he's been stepping up his running programme, but I can't put a date on it.
“I’m not sure I can give a definitive answer (on the transfer speculation) because he wasn’t available.
“I think it would have been different if he was playing and fit, but no, he's our player, and his main focus and our focus, certainly from a medical department, is to get him on the pitch as quickly as we can and get him available enough for selection.”
Forrester did feature regularly for Schumacher in the second half of last season, starting 13 of 15 games before his injury.
Since then, a change in formation means one fewer place to be contested for the centre-halves, and the right-sided spot has seen Eoin Toal and Chris Forino slug it out so far, with new signing Cyrus Christie also able to play in that position.
Schumacher remains confident in the former Port Vale defender’s ability and has named him as part of the 22-man squad which was submitted to the EFL at the end of the transfer window.
He told us: “I like Will, I think he's a good player.
“He did well for me and unfortunately when he got injured in the Bristol Rovers game he didn't recover from it, and we probably missed him in that back line.
“He is a good player, but he's shown historically it's been difficult for him to build and maintain a consistent run of games.
“I think last year was the most minutes he's played in a season, and it was still an injury hit, so I think that's the key for him, for such a young player, it is to get himself in a good position where his body is robust enough to sustain playing Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, which you've got to do in this division.
“That should be his main focus now, just get himself back out there.”
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