Bolton Wanderers Offer Stuart Holden Update

It's been quite a while since the club offered official word on how Stuart Holden was doing. Just last week, we discussed how big (read: immense, huge, massive, etc) of a miss the American Midfielder has been for Bolton. It's been 18 months since Stuart Holden was injured and nearly a year since his one-match comeback in a 2-0 Carling Cup win against Aston Villa. Stu will miss a little more time (that was expected) as the club do not want to rush him back and have him sit out even longer.

Manager Owen Coyle has confirmed that Holden had another, small operation just a few weeks ago. The procedure was a small cleanup operation to make sure that the last operation, the one to repair cartilage damage caused by the first knee operation, went smoothly.

Many American fans worry that his plight is very similar to that of former US Men's National Team player John O'Brien. O'Brien started his career coming through the Ajax youth ranks and plying his trade with the Dutch giants for seven years. O'Brien looked like the next big thing for the Yanks but a series of injuries never allowed him top shine and forced an early retirement.

That said, from what we have been told by people close to the situation, Holden is on target to make an October (ish) return to Bolton Wanderers. Owen Coyle, in his usual positive self, has said that all is going well with Stuart. Hit the jump for the quotes.

"I spoke to him the other night after the game and he sounded in a good place in terms of the type of character he is. His first concern, because of the type of lad he is, is to ask about everybody else.

"He's doing well at this moment in time. He had a cleanout operation three weeks ago and is feeling a lot better from that.

"It's one of those ones that we have to do in Stuart's own time. We have to give him as much time as we can until he feels that both physically and mentally it's time for him to step things up.

"What he's had to do recently has been minimal if truth be told, but he has been doing well.

"I sent him over his home and away match jerseys last week, as well as his training tops to provide him with a little bit of a boost and equally knowing that sooner rather than later that he would be using those.

"He returns to see the specialist in the next few weeks who will have a look and see how things are going. Then, if that has been a good chat, as opposed to the minimal training he'll then start to step things up.

"We saw last year when he came back and played the game at Aston Villa what a top player he is - he was the best player on the park that day.

"We know the quality that he has and how much we've missed him. It'll all take time, but it's nice to know that he's in a good place."

-Official Bolton Wanderers website