Owen Coyle says he is still looking to add to his squad before the end of the transfer window
Owen Coyle has revealed that he is still looking to bolster his squad before the end of the transfer window, with a defensive midfielder his main priority.
Throughout the course of pre-season Coyle has shuffled his central midfield pack with Darren Pratley, Josh Vela, Mark Davies and summer recruit Keith Andrews all featuring.
Trialist Kalifa Cisse was also involved the three-game tour of Scotland, though the club opted against offering the Malian international a deal.
And with the season’s opener at Burnley just around the corner the manager told Wanderers Player he is still exploring his options in the transfer market.
He said: “All in all I’d probably still like to add a player to our midfield – probably a defensive type of midfielder. With the makeup of our squad we probably don’t have that type of player.
“We’re exploring a few options at the moment, though we’ve seen in the last few months the emergence of young Josh Vela and how good of a prospect he is going to be. So he’s in the mix there battling away with Darren Pratley, Keith Andrews and Mark Davies for those positions, which is brilliant.
“We still don’t have a full squad available because we still have the injuries to David Wheater and Stuart Holden – if we’re able to bring that calibre of player back into our squad as the season progresses that will give us a real boost.
“Stuart to be fair ticks every box in that respect. He can run with the ball, can pass the ball, can tackle and has tremendous energy. There’s no doubting that we’ve missed him, but when we get him back it’s going to be a significant boost to everything we’ve got at the football club.
“Young Joe Riley has also blossomed and that’s the other side to things for me as a manager – we’re starting to reap the rewards of how hard we are working on the youth in our academy.
“Jimmy Phillips and his staff are doing a terrific job and that augurs well for the future of the football club.”
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