Bolton End Ilic Interest For Now

By Mark Heys
December 14 2006

Bolton Wanderers have decided against signing Slovenian international defender Branko Ilic for the time being after a recent trial spell at the Reebok Stadium.

Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce feels that the 23-year old full back will not make an impact on his first team squad at this moment in time and is therefore putting any potential deal on the backburner.

"He's a player we may take another look at later, but for the moment I don't think he will have much of an impact on the first-team" said Allardyce when questioned about the NK Domzale defender.

The biggest issue for Allardyce at the moment is to tie down current players Kevin Davies and Tal Ben-Haim to new contracts. The pair will be out of contract in the summer and Allardyce says that it is imperative that these particular deals are concluded before any new faces can be aquired.

"The biggest issue for us, at the moment, is to secure contracts of people who are already here. It's an absolute must to get Davo and Tal sorted first and then to look at others who will be due to come out of contract next year."

Bolton continue to be linked to their former loan player Jon Otsemobor after his club Crewe Alexandra put a £400,000 price tag on the head of the former Liverpool reserve.