DEBATE: Does Tom Walker Have a Future at Bolton Wanderers?

So the dust has settled on deadline day, and Bolton Wanderers' academy graduate Tom Walker will also be settling in to his new surroundings at Bury.

Joining the Shakers on loan on Wednesday, Walker will be making a fresh start at Gigg Lane, having spent his whole career at Bolton thus far.

Loan deals can sometimes be for the benefit of the team.

See Jack Wilshere and Arsenal - a talented player who has lost his way, but a player with huge talent nonetheless. Arsene Wenger doesn't want to have to put his player through the ignominy of being left out of the matchday squad - as Jose Mourinho has done at Manchester United with Bastian Schweinsteiger. So, a loan to another club suits the team and allows the manager to save face.

In Walker's situation, the loan is entirely to suit the player.

Wanderers have a young, talented player who doesn't quite fit into any position yet and one who is relatively dispensable.

The move to Bury should give him much-needed minutes and is intended to decide whether Walker will sink or swim - much in the way that Oscar Threlkeld's move to Plymouth Argyle panned out.

I think Walker has 'something'. What that something is however escapes me completely.

For a player who has - to borrow a phrase - lovely feet - Walker has yet to pin down a place in either Neil Lennon, Jimmy Phillips or Phil Parkinson's Bolton Wanderers team. Our need is too great to allow sympathy or any other outside influence to dictate team selection.

I hope that Walker goes out and makes the most of the situation - perhaps with echoes of Wilshere's own move to Bolton - but I do fear that we have seen the last of him in a (proper) white shirt.

Good luck Tom.