Academy Six Involved In Spanish Tournament

By Mark Heys
August 6 2006

Six members of the Bolton Wanderers Academy will be taking part in the first team's tour of Spain next week as the club continues to suffer the effects of an injury crisis.

Jarostaw Fojut, Blazej Augustyn, Johann Smith, Nathan Wolfe, Robert Sissons and Chris Basham will all head out to Huelva as Bolton currently find themselves short on numbers due to injuries to senior players such as Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Davies, Henrik Pedersen, Joey O'Brien and Nicky Hunt.

Manager Sam Allardyce beleives that the two game tournament will give the fringe players a chance to make their mark on the team.

"With the number of injuries ravishing the first team, the squad is looking a little thread bare. This week will provide an ideal opportunity for a number of fringe players to make their mark against top class opposition. With two games in three days, the players will be under pressure, but the quality of training and the fact that we have two competitive games should be the ideal tonic we need in the build up to the start of the new campaign."

Trialist Alex Perez, once of Real Madrid and more recently with La Liga newcomers Nastic, also makes the squad for a swift return back to his home country as does experienced Spaniard Ivan Campo.

Squad for Spanish tour: Jussi Jaaskelainen, Tal Ben-Haim, Kevin Nolan, Abdoulaye Meite, Gary Speed, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ivan Campo, Quinton Fortune, Ricardo Vaz-Te, El-Hadji Diouf, Idan Tal, Abdoulaye Faye, Jarostaw Fojut, Blazej Augustyn, Nathan Wolfe, Johann Smith, Robert Sissons, Chris Basham, Ian Walker, Ali Al-Habsi, Alex Perez.