WANDERERS have had a bid accepted by Derry City for centre-back Eoin Toal.

The club upped their original offer for the 23-year-old Northern Irishman at the end of last week and The Bolton News understands he will now fly over for a medical early this week.

Toal is out of contract at the end of the year and Wanderers have snapped him up for a minimal payment up front, with further payments contingent on his success at the UniBol.

Evatt has been on the lookout for defensive cover after releasing Alex Baptiste in the summer and has been given a glowing review of the 23-year-old by former striker Eoin Doyle, now with St Patrick’s Athletic.

The deal was delayed by Derry’s involvement in Europe, with Toal keen to play a two-legged game against Riga in the Europa Conference League before he progressed the move to England.

Speaking his side’s 2-0 defeat on Thursday night, Derry boss Ruaidhri Higgins said he “hadn’t got a clue” whether the defender would represent the club again.

A delegation from Bolton, including technical performance director Chris Markham, travelled to Ireland last week to up the club's original offer.

Wanderers are now keen to get the transfer completed and could have him in the building by the time they host Huddersfield Town in their final pre-season friendly next Saturday.

Toal already has more than 150 senior appearances and has played 20 league games this season in Ireland, scoring once. He has also represented Northern Ireland at all youth levels up to Under-21s.

He has also played in all three central defensive positions for Derry, which would give Evatt ample cover alongside Ricardo Santos, Will Aimson, George Johnston, Jack Iredale and Gethin Jones.

Evatt confirmed his interest in Toal last week after the initial rejected bid and believes he can cope with the switch to League One.

“He’s a player we are aware of, he is a player we like, he is a player with good attributes and we think he will ll fit the way we play,” he said.

“We’ll do things smartly and strategically and we value everybody. If that value is not the right value then we’ll move on to other targets, simple as that.”

 

Eoin Toal is one of the subjects discussed on this week's edition of The Buff Podcast, our weekly look at the Wanderers headlines. To listen, press play on the player below.