Ben-Haim Set To Depart Bolton

By Mark Heys
January 11 2007

Sam Allardyce admits that he has done all he can to try and persuade defender Tal Ben-Haim to prolong his stay with Bolton Wanderers.

The 24-year old is out of contract in the summer and will now seemingly be moving on at some stage after continuously rejecting the chance to stay at the Reebok Stadium.

Allardyce says it is a great shame that the club are to lose one of their best defenders but hopes that the Israeli continues to perform to an excellent standard for the remainder of his current deal.

"He won't sign a contract now. It is a great shame that it has gone beyond that now. We'll just have to wait and see what will happen over the coming months. I don't think he'll move this month. He is likely to see out his contract and he'll be off and away in the summer. As a player you can use the rules and regulations and you can't blame him for that." said Allardyce to the official website

"It is a difficult situation for both parties, but as long as Tal continues playing for us at the level he has set himself I'll be very happy. He is an ambitious lad and even though we have a vibrant ambition ourselves it seems there are clubs' who are bigger than us who are keen on signing him

Ben-Haim joined Bolton from Maccabi Tel Aviv in the summer of 2004 and has made well over 100 appearances in the Premiership thus attracting interest from Chelsea, amongst others.

West Ham United are the only club to make their interest in the player official but this would represent a step back should the centre half join his countryman Yossi Benayoun at the relegation threatened Hammers.