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Chris Eagles recently gave an interview detailing the personal tragedy that had befallen him and his wife. They had been expecting their first child, a boy whom they named Mason, only for him to die before being born. He spoke of hoping to set up a charity helping couples through this most painful of ordeals. I'm sure all of us here at LOV Towers and the Bolton Wanderers fan-base would like to wish the pair well with this and with their current pregnancy.
On a football side of things, though obviously not the point of the interview, Eagles did remark on how he didn't feel he'd be at Bury much longer, having been frozen out of the team. He pointed out it had been a bad couple of years having been released by Bolton "a club he'd love to return to one day".
It's worth pointing out at this point that yes we're under embargo and we have about the same amount of money as that shifty looking cat in my garden. What's the point of even discussing this? Well I'm fed up of doom, gloom and takeover talk, and Eagles might well be financially viable target for next season.
He has obviously dropped his wage demands by playing for Bury in League One and, by his own admission, would like to come back to the club. Come next year (in League One, most likely) we'll be releasing lots of players and trying to sell many more. Sports Shield have said they want to invest in the playing staff. All this makes Eagles a viable option.
He's a goal threat without question. We've needed goals in the midfield this year and that's been lacking. Feeney has chipped in, but Pratley, Silva (not that he's playing) and co have all been coming up short. His record in the Championship for us was 12 in 43, very good for a midfielder. Considering we'll be down a level I'm sure he could hit these numbers again.
The midfield was a brighter place with him in it as well. When he got on the ball, he looked to be positive and take charge of an attack. We don't see this from our current crop. A lot of the time it came to nothing or he wasted possession with a no hope shot but it got the team going regardless.
One other positive is that he could fill in for a striker far, far, far, far, far, far, far, *2 hours later* far better than Liam Feeney can, (or literally any of our strikers, for that matter) which has had to happen far too often this year (he too could be quite decent in League One, but that's for another day.)
We'll likely see Emile Heskey be released, or even retire, come May, clubs will be all over Zach Clough, Tom Eaves is out of contract, so is Kaiyne Woolery and other younger lads who could do a job. We'll need players who can step in up there, he'd add that.
The draw backs of Eagles are that he was inconsistent, he'd show up one game and go missing for 3. That is something to bode in mind, but compared to a lot of the players we see on the books today, he looks like Mr. 7/10. His age is also worth noting, he'd be 30 if we did get him in the summer, not overly old but old enough for someone on the wings. Eagles was never reliant on his pace however so I don't consider that much of a problem. Not to mention he'd also do well being the striker, if it was a problem.
So would he be worth a punt, or am I letting sentiment get the better of me? Comments below.