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Some news this morning out of Merseyside as Goal.com is "exclusively" reporting (with the Daily Mail likely piggybacking off of that story) that Jay Spearing to Bolton Wanderers is a done deal. That, however, is likely not the case as Sky Sports weighed in, saying that there are still five clubs in the running with Bolton Wanderers leading the chase. Bolton News reporter Marc Iles also chimed in, saying:
Jay Spearing deal close, but hearing
— Marc Iles (@MarcIles) August 28, 2012#bwfc have not yet agreed fee with#lfc - can't be far away though!
Bolton were heavily in the market for a new defensive midfielder following the departure of Nigel Reo-Coker. Bolton had tried to fill the void of the summer with Kalifa Cisse on trial and a failed deal for Colombian international Carlos Sanchez. The report says that Bolton have met Liverpool's £3 million valuation of the 23-year-old midfielder. Spearing has plummeted in the Liverpool pecking order after the Andfield side brought in Joe Allen and Real Madrid's Nuri Sahin in the transfer window.
Wanderers, notoriously short on money to spend, were initially seeking a loan for Spearing but to Liverpool, it was sell or nothing. Bolton had initially gone in with a bid that was about half the valuation and were ultimately turned down. The Goal.com piece is reporting that Bolton have gone in with a full bid and that has been accepted by Liverpool.
There are a lot of questions about the move, mainly in the money area. Bolton had already spent somewhere in the neighborhood of £2 million total for Andy Lonergan and Matt Mills and the Spearing signing would more than double that outlay. Then you would have to wonder about his wages with the first thought being that if he's coming from Liverpool, they would be too high for Bolton. There are ways around that though, including a wage bonus should the club get promoted.
Spearing has been at Liverpool since 1997 and has come all the way up through the youth ranks before making his competitive first team debut in the 2008/09 Champions League in a Liverpool 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven.