Is There a Way Back for Medo?

As Bolton Wanderers' plight in the Championship continues after yet another defeat at the weekend, is it time that a player who you'd be more than forgiven for forgetting was actually on our wage bill, a player who was ostracised right at the beginning of Neil Lennon's reign at the club, was given another chance?

Conspicuous by his absence from the most recent development squad game, Medo Kamara hasn't made an appearance in a White shirt since the spirited 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, against Chelsea, 24th September 2014.

He didn't feature in Dougie Freedman's final few disastrous games and has not once even made the bench under Neil Lennon. With his contract up at the end of the season, in all likelihood he will leave the club on a free transfer this summer having not added to his 53 Bolton appearances.

However, with nothing else seemingly working for Lennon in the slightest when it comes to team selections, maybe it's time the Sierra Leone international was given a chance by the manager - it's not as if he can do any worse than what those who have been playing, right?

For the record, at the time I did fully support Lennon dropping Medo from the side. Through out the final months of Freedman's tenure the defensive midfielder looked very unfit and couldn't pass the ball in a straight line to save his life. It came to no surprise to me that Lennon didn't rate him in the slightest and didn't once include him in his plans.

But now we're at a stage where every centre midfielder we've got is matching Medo's incredibly low standards, so you either have to wonder why everyone else isn't being dealt with as harshly (obviously he can't get rid of everyone, but you know what I mean) or why Medo hasn't at least been given a place on the substitute bench over Filip bloody Twardzik.

Now obviously I do not see the 28-year old every day in training, presuming of course he is actually required to still turn up, so I can't speak to whether or not his fitness levels have improved and this report from back in August on a U21 game doesn't exactly shine Medo in the best of lights.

Despite all that, however, all you need to do is look at Reading's second goal at the weekend to know that we need some more bite and steel in that holding midfield area. I did initially think that the revitalised Jay Spearing was going to provide that, but that seems to not be materialising. Williams' goal on Saturday firstly came from a given away ball from Mark Davies, but then the acres of space he was able to stroll into allowed him to leisurely pick his spot and fire the ball into the back of the net.

Medo might not be a talented footballer who is blessed with wonderful passing and a gracious touch, but I'd be willing to say he'd have been a whole lot quicker on closing down the space for that goal on Saturday then every other midfielder on the park was.

This loan report from Isreali based journalist Ori Cooper, who saw a lot of Medo whilst he was out on loan last year, also suggests that Medo might actually be of some value to our struggling side.

I know I'm probably writing this in vein and that we'll never see Medo again, but when all the shit you're firing at the wall is refusing to stick, it's time to try something a little bit different. Ultimately, it's not Medo who's got in this mess but there is no proof to say he couldn't help us get out of it.

We'll just never know unless he's given a chance.