Boss - Stelios Situation Is Delicate

By Mark Heys
August 23 2005

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce fears that a pre-deadline departure of Stelios Giannakopoulos from the club will hamper his chances of bringing in a suitable replacement.

The Wanderers manager was speaking earlier on today amid reports that Liverpool had made a formal offer to the club for the services of the Greek midfielder who has just one year left to run on his contract.

Allardyce has already fended off interest from Manchester City earlier on this month but fears that a possible Giannakopoulos departure to Anfield will leave him short handed and unable to find the right quality replacements at such a late stage in the transfer window.

"The situation with Stelios is an extremely delicate and one that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible." Allardyce told the official website.

"If he ends up leaving the Club, which I hope will not happen, we need to find a ready replacement immediately. In the current climate that is going to be a difficult task. I very much doubt that there are players out there with the same quality as Stelios, but I hope we don't get to that situation."

The one time Olympiakos star made his first Bolton appearance of the season when replacing Henrik Pedersen as a second half substitute against Everton at the weekend. As he is yet to sign a new contract that has been put to him one must assume that he now wants to leave the club, if not this year then certainly next year.