Speed And Braaten Hope Star Duo Stay Put

Wants Duo To Stay
By Mark Heys
August 28 2007

Bolton Wanderers duo Gary Speed and Daniel Braaten have made a big plea to their team mates El-Hadji Diouf and Nicolas Anelka in the hope that they will remain at the Reebok Stadium after the closure of the transfer window on Friday.

Speed and Braaten both got on the scoresheet during Saturday's 3-0 win over Reading with Diouf setting up the first from a corner and Anelka scoring one and making one in the second half.

Much travelled Anelka has been the subject of intense transfer speculation for the last couple of months and Bolton have gone down on record to say that they will allow their record signing join a Champions League club if a bid surfaces.

Diouf too has been linked with moves to Spain and Germany as well as a number of British clubs after recently stating he wants to step up to another level.

Speed emphasises that although the club doesn't focus on individual players it needs the contributions of Diouf and Anelka if it is to continue to make progression in the top flight.

"We need to keep them because they are our quality players," said the former Welsh international to the Bolton News

"It's a team game and it's not about individuals, but Dioufy and Nic are our front players, who create and score goals and we want to keep them." added the ex-Newcastle United and Leeds favourite

New signing Braaten also acknowledged the importance of the two after they laid on the Norwegian international's first goal in English football just a couple of days ago.

"They have star quality and can do magic in one second. They are two of our best players and hopefully they will stay on." said the pacy young striker

Meanwhile Bolton manager Sammy Lee has not given up hope in bringing new players to the club before the weekend visit of Everton, a game which marks exactly ten years of football at the Reebok Stadium, with the Toffees ironically the first ever visitors to the ground.