Ilic Deal Near To Completion?

By Mark Heys
December 7 2006

The agent of Slovenian defender Branko Ilic is confident that his client will agree on a move to Bolton Wanderers by the start of next week.

NK Domzale full back Ilic spent some time on trial with the Wanderers last month and has sufficiently impressed enough to be offered a long term deal at the Reebok Stadium.

Agent Sam Stapleton says that everything is in place for the deal to go through and then Ilic will officially be a Bolton player by the time the transfer window reopens in January.

"Bolton are very interested in Branko, He was with them last week for a few days, where he performed extremely well in his tests, and he is back with them now to have a final check on a few things."

"A prospective fee has already been talked about and everything is set up for this to push on. Everything should be wrapped up at the end of the week or the beginning of next" said Stapleton

Meanwhile Bolton have been linked with a shock move for their former loan player Jon Otsemobor. The former Liverpool reserve is currently on the transfer list at Crewe Alexandra and is wanting a move to a higher level.

Otsemobor joined Bolton from Liverpool in February 2004 but completed just one half of the game against Manchester City before returning to Anfield citing lack of opportunities.

However a proposed move for Ilic, a player in the same position, would effectively rule out a switch for Otsemobor.