WANDERERS would welcome Daniel Sturridge or Jack Wilshere back to the club with open arms… but fans should probably check their excitement for the time being.

Ian Evatt insists he has been backed financially by the club’s owners, Football Ventures, for every signing he has requested.

Two of the club’s ex-alumni, Sturridge and Wilshere, are keen to get themselves back into the game and would be available on a free transfer.

Evatt missed out on one of his top attacking targets on deadline day after the parent club decided not to send him out on loan late in the day.

Asked whether Sturridge is a remote possibility, Evatt hinted that the players concerned could be out of Wanderers’ price range.

“He’d be lovely, we’d appreciate that,” he smiled. “There are one or two out there – Mr Wilshere and people like that – we’d welcome them with open arms.

“But we are not going to be looking to overspend. We want to get the right players, the right characters to play the right way for Bolton.”

Assembling his own squad, Evatt said he did everything possible to bring another marquee signing on board before Tuesday’s deadline.

That he did not succeed theoretically leaves him with money to spend in January – but Evatt feels confident he has always been able to find the funds for the right player.

“We are not really focussed on budgets,” he said. “We know where we are at, of course, and where everyone else is at too. But that becomes an irrelevance, really, we’ll sign who we see fit, within reason.

“The board have always supported me, have never said no to me, because they trust that I will do the right thing for the football club and nothing selfishly.

“We have that relationship and it is an important one to have. If the right player came along and we asked for the player then they would most likely say yes because they know it is coming from the right place and it will be achievable.

“When you have got that kind of relationship with the board it can only be good for the football club.”

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