Obviously we cannot predict anything, but my view would be Ipswich would like Humphries to get a season under his belt (or two if we go up! 😉) in League football rather than be recalled for the end of a tricky Premier League season and unless Evatt gets the hook and the new manager wants him back, I get the feeling Morley will be with us.
But even if they do, like Eze, get recalled as @Shev says, it will probably mean (as it did then...I think) that we are doing well. We have a decent bench, I would be a tad disappointed, but would not be too disheartened....especially as I am sure Blooms and Co probably have a couple more 'Who the hell is he???' options for January, as well.
Exactly this. I have a feeling Aaron Morley will be replaced by Arthur Read in January, although I have no inside knowledge.
Read will into the last six months of his contract by then, whilst it’s difficult to see Bolton Wanderers wanting to give a promotion rival any kind of advantage by allowing Morley to complete his season-long loan.
Cameron Humphreys is a different situation and feel there’s a good chance he’ll be with us for the full season.
If Evatt is still in place in January (a big if), surely there's a chance Lomtadze might get his chequebook out to offer Bolton a chance to cut their losses if Evatt really doesn't fancy him (or Aaron doesn't fancy going back).
I don't think we'd spend anything like that, but Lomtadze is an unknown quantity when it comes to making cash available for transfers should it become known it might be on. The naive optimist in me is speculating that Bolton may to want free up space in their squad/wage bill for someone else who is in favour, and therefore may accept a lower figure, though that is of course not taking interest from other clubs into consideration.
Okay, it's not likely to happen but it's more realistic than us signing Eze after his loan spell as some people were clamouring for.
I thought it was arrogant of Bolton to let him go to us at the time. A public statement that they didn’t see us as a threat to their aim of promotion. Look how that’s turned out. Have itttttt.
Yes, We don't know how much we are covering of that wage, if it was a rush job to get him out of the managers way / free up a space then we could be paying only a small proportion of that leaving them paying a decent chunk they'd like to avoid for someone they don't really want.
If he was keen to come here permanently at any point and we could offer a wage or length of contract that suited he could agree to forgo some or all of what is due to him.
Also if he keeps spraying the ball about and gets a few goals while we challenge then we probably won't be the only one's in for him.
They appear to have replaced him a load of injured players who will be back before January anyway so maybe they'll come good and he'll be forgotten.
Worst case for us might be Evatt getting the sack in December.
He’s doing an amazing job and from what you hear and see , he appears well integrated into the culture of the squad. If Bolton don’t offer him a new contract , would he be happy to sign for us and play in front of only 4000 home supporters. Could his ambitions be much higher?
If we can get him playing regularly like he did against Aston villa then losing Aaron would be less of a hit. Bakinson just needs to find some consistency. He undoubtedly has talent.
Bakinson’s attributes seem so different to Morley’s based on what we’ve seen this season though. Bakinson in our own third scares the life out of me. Morley makes it look easy.
I think that if Morley leaves, the ideal starting three would be Scowen back at the 4 with Leahy at the 8 and Humphreys at the 10, with Butcher able to cover pretty much all three positions, and Bakinson also able to provide cover.
Leahy is a weird one, but I think with his defensive prowess (and with him not quite being creative enough as a 10), he would be better as a kind of box-to-box.
I also think that we have been so brilliant (for the most part) with loanees under Blooms, that someone will give us a really decent loanee in January should they be needed.
No inside knowledge of this myself but I suspect Aaron Morley will be made permanent for a fee of around £300,000. Player doesn’t want to go back and they don’t necessarily want him. It would suit all parties.
Just look at similar situations across football over the last few years. An unwanted player who wants to leave is not going to command a particularly big fee. I’m not sure if not wanting to sell to a promotion rival really counts in modern business of football.
There are far too many unknowns to speculate with any authority (but not saying we shouldn’t as it’s fun!).
But we have no idea whether Aaron Morley has any wish to stay with us or whether he just wants to do a really good job to make his employers actually realise how stupid they were in not valuing (non-financially) him enough.
We all hope that he loves it here and has brought into what a special club we are but we shouldn’t forget that the Bolton supporters have demonstrated a lot of attributes over the years that we value here (basically us x3).
The one thing we can say though is that if it was the latter he has probably succeeded with knobs on…
Very possibly so.... this may be where we see how much our owner fancies a push for the championship early doors after a remarkable start to the season?
It's not like if it comes down to money for Aaron that we can't afford to splurge as bit if we really want him on board longer term
Morley has been giving it large after every win. After Tuesday he posted on instagram “great win for the boyzzz” or something along those lines on that same day that Bolton lost. I think that says everything. He wants out.
Comments
Obviously we cannot predict anything, but my view would be Ipswich would like Humphries to get a season under his belt (or two if we go up! 😉) in League football rather than be recalled for the end of a tricky Premier League season and unless Evatt gets the hook and the new manager wants him back, I get the feeling Morley will be with us.
But even if they do, like Eze, get recalled as @Shev says, it will probably mean (as it did then...I think) that we are doing well. We have a decent bench, I would be a tad disappointed, but would not be too disheartened....especially as I am sure Blooms and Co probably have a couple more 'Who the hell is he???' options for January, as well.
It's also a known risk - we know there's a recall option so either could leave.
With that in mind you'd like to think we'll have some succession planning in place.
Exactly this. I have a feeling Aaron Morley will be replaced by Arthur Read in January, although I have no inside knowledge.
Read will into the last six months of his contract by then, whilst it’s difficult to see Bolton Wanderers wanting to give a promotion rival any kind of advantage by allowing Morley to complete his season-long loan.
Cameron Humphreys is a different situation and feel there’s a good chance he’ll be with us for the full season.
If Evatt is still in place in January (a big if), surely there's a chance Lomtadze might get his chequebook out to offer Bolton a chance to cut their losses if Evatt really doesn't fancy him (or Aaron doesn't fancy going back).
A quick back-of-a-fag-packet calculation.
Estimate of weekly salary: £5,000
Weeks left on contract (as of 1st January 2025): 130
£5,000 x 130 = £650,000
That would shatter our record paid transfer fee and then some.
I think that chance is about the same size as me going on a date with Jakki Degg.
I don't think we'd spend anything like that, but Lomtadze is an unknown quantity when it comes to making cash available for transfers should it become known it might be on. The naive optimist in me is speculating that Bolton may to want free up space in their squad/wage bill for someone else who is in favour, and therefore may accept a lower figure, though that is of course not taking interest from other clubs into consideration.
Okay, it's not likely to happen but it's more realistic than us signing Eze after his loan spell as some people were clamouring for.
I thought it was arrogant of Bolton to let him go to us at the time. A public statement that they didn’t see us as a threat to their aim of promotion. Look how that’s turned out. Have itttttt.
Your posts are always uplifting to read, mate - a great mixture of analytical and optimistic!
While your maths might be correct, the length remaining of his contract doesn't necessarily equate to any potential transfer fee.
All that it equates to is the amount Bolton would have to pay him to remain under contract.
They may put his open market transfer valuation, assuming he were not longer required, at £2M or £200K we really don't know.
Yes, We don't know how much we are covering of that wage, if it was a rush job to get him out of the managers way / free up a space then we could be paying only a small proportion of that leaving them paying a decent chunk they'd like to avoid for someone they don't really want.
If he was keen to come here permanently at any point and we could offer a wage or length of contract that suited he could agree to forgo some or all of what is due to him.
Also if he keeps spraying the ball about and gets a few goals while we challenge then we probably won't be the only one's in for him.
They appear to have replaced him a load of injured players who will be back before January anyway so maybe they'll come good and he'll be forgotten.
Worst case for us might be Evatt getting the sack in December.
He’s doing an amazing job and from what you hear and see , he appears well integrated into the culture of the squad. If Bolton don’t offer him a new contract , would he be happy to sign for us and play in front of only 4000 home supporters. Could his ambitions be much higher?
He has a contract there until summer 2027, so don't think there's a new deal afoot there any time soon.
I really like Aaron Morley but I truly believe that we would have a plan B in place should he go back to Bolton in January.
Is Bakinson not the player we probably envisaged playing there before we realised we could get Morley in?
Probably
If we can get him playing regularly like he did against Aston villa then losing Aaron would be less of a hit. Bakinson just needs to find some consistency. He undoubtedly has talent.
Bakinson’s attributes seem so different to Morley’s based on what we’ve seen this season though. Bakinson in our own third scares the life out of me. Morley makes it look easy.
I think that if Morley leaves, the ideal starting three would be Scowen back at the 4 with Leahy at the 8 and Humphreys at the 10, with Butcher able to cover pretty much all three positions, and Bakinson also able to provide cover.
Leahy is a weird one, but I think with his defensive prowess (and with him not quite being creative enough as a 10), he would be better as a kind of box-to-box.
I also think that we have been so brilliant (for the most part) with loanees under Blooms, that someone will give us a really decent loanee in January should they be needed.
Is that the first appearance of Che’s non-date with Jakki Degg in, ooh, about 5 years?
It feels quite weird that both Jackie Degg and Konnie Huq come out of gasroom hibernation on the same day…
No inside knowledge of this myself but I suspect Aaron Morley will be made permanent for a fee of around £300,000. Player doesn’t want to go back and they don’t necessarily want him. It would suit all parties.
He cost them £350k so I'd imagine they'd want at least that
Why? They wanted him then.
@Midlander bold and quite detailed prediction for someone with no insider knowledge.
Will still suspended Evatt headbutt Fergie in the tunnel this weekend?
I think Bolton Wanderers paid Rochdale c. £100,000 for Aaron Morley in January 2022.
Just look at similar situations across football over the last few years. An unwanted player who wants to leave is not going to command a particularly big fee. I’m not sure if not wanting to sell to a promotion rival really counts in modern business of football.
There are far too many unknowns to speculate with any authority (but not saying we shouldn’t as it’s fun!).
But we have no idea whether Aaron Morley has any wish to stay with us or whether he just wants to do a really good job to make his employers actually realise how stupid they were in not valuing (non-financially) him enough.
We all hope that he loves it here and has brought into what a special club we are but we shouldn’t forget that the Bolton supporters have demonstrated a lot of attributes over the years that we value here (basically us x3).
The one thing we can say though is that if it was the latter he has probably succeeded with knobs on…
Plus if he does want to leave Bolton other clubs may put in bids and/or offer him higher wages.
Very possibly so.... this may be where we see how much our owner fancies a push for the championship early doors after a remarkable start to the season?
It's not like if it comes down to money for Aaron that we can't afford to splurge as bit if we really want him on board longer term
And there is another unknown that we don’t seem to talk about much. Who or what is the “we” that can afford to splurge money?
We all seem to assume it is basically our owner’s spare change that he doesn’t care or notice about ‘splurging’.
Is it?
Or is it ‘our’ money that we are basically borrowing on trust from him (or however it works).
Not meaning to be negative, but we do seem rather blasé about talking about breaking club record transfer fees, etc.
Morley has been giving it large after every win. After Tuesday he posted on instagram “great win for the boyzzz” or something along those lines on that same day that Bolton lost. I think that says everything. He wants out.