Jeffren: The new face of our front line?
Owen Coyle had said that he was looking for the next big thing in Europe to drive Bolton Wanderers forward. News out of Barcelona today is that we have hada bid accepted for that next big something. It sounds as though Barca have accepted a £5 million bid for youngster Jeffren. The 23 year old was on display during the recent U-21 European Championships that his Spanish side ultimately one.
Like teammate Thiago, Jeffren is in that elite category of highly coveted Barcelona youngsters. He's extremely pacy down the wing and very creative, having the abuility to beat a defender in order to send a near perfect ball into the box. According to Offside Barcelona, he is "promising, talented, and hard-working." While this sounds all well and good, we have to look at the other side of the equation.
Barcelona Offside also told us that Jeffren is injury prone, which doesnt necessarily help our ever so thin team sheet if he happens to get hurt. The words "pacy down the wing" are extremely important as well because this means he isn't the goal poacher that we so badly need. His goal scoring is by no means impressive with 3 goals in 23 games for the full Barcelona side.
What this all means that Jeffren is extremely unproven but if there's anyone that can develop him into the player he promises to be, it's Owen Coyle. It sounds like Jeffren will be flown to the US to discuss personal terms and join the mighty Bolton Wanderers.
Check his highlight reel vs Estudiantes a few season's back and just look at how quickly he moves, his feet move, and his speed of decisions.