Bolton’s Brazilians

Bolton’s experience with Brazilian’s has not always been all that great. Here is a look at those who hail from that part of the world who ended up at the club for short spells.

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Moritz’s spent the beginning of his career in his native Brazil before playing for a number of Turkish sides. After playing for 5 teams in 7 years he rocked up at Dougie Freedman’s Crystal Palace where he made 27 appearances scoring 5 times as Ian Holloway led the side into the Premier League.

After that promotion winning season he moved onto the mighty Bolton Wanderers for a year as Freedman continued his policy of never signing players from his former club. He scored 7 times in 23 appearances in his solitary season with the club. At this point he opted to chase more money elsewhere and ended up with the famous Mumbai City before moving to South Korea’s Pohang Steelers and Thailand’s Buriram United. Freedman’s kind gift to us Bolton fans now plays for Denizlispor back in Turkey.

In fairness he actually was a good gift, far better than Dean Moxey at least. He brought a little flair to Bolton that season and played his part in some memorable wins such as the 5-1 thrashing of Leeds United.

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Big Sam has recently said that Jardel was his worst ever signing, and to be fair he had a few misses to choose from, not that we ever complained.

Jardel took in an impressive 17 clubs during his playing career ranging from Porto to Newcastle Jets. When he rocked up in Bolton he looked to be a very Big Sam signing as he had been in decline and out with injury, but he had scored 53 goals in 49 appearances for previous club Sporting CP. Was he another who Allardyce could regenerate?

No, he turned up over weight and struggled to make an impact in the league. He scored 3 times on Bolton’s run to the League Cup final, including against Liverpool, but this was not enough to salvage a disappointing spell or his floundering career.

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Cesar managed only a handful of appearances for Bolton in his solitary season at the club. His form early in his career lead to a move to Real Madrid where in his first season he played regularly alongside fellow former Wanderers Ivan Campo and Fernando Hierro.

He then became somewhat unsettled moving through 3 loan clubs in quick succession, including AC Milan. That instability never really ended after this.

He would turn up a couple of years later at Bolton another lost soul for Big Sam to mend. He lost his place early in the season to Radhi Jaidi and would go on to break his foot against Manchester United. After that game he did not play again for the club.

After Bolton he rattled through 8 different teams only spending more than a year at one. The perennial journey man, and one too broken for even Big Sam himself.

His transfer to Bolton was, incidentally, one of those which the Stevens enquiry would take a look at.

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Thome was another Brazilian central defender brought in by Allardyce. He started out at Internactional before moving to Europe and spending 4 years in Portugal, most notably with Benfica.

His time in England began with Sheffield Wednesday while they were a top division side. After that he made the move to Chelsea, before they had money, but he was unable to break into the first team at Stamford Bridge. Then he made the move to then Premier League Sunderland. His time there ended prematurely in affect due to an appearance based payment which would have been due to Chelsea, all a bit Jay Spearing really.

After he left the Stadium of Light on a free transfer he joined Bolton in time to become a regular member of the team which would finish 8th in the Premier League and reach a League Cup final. That would end up being his only season at the club and he then moved onto Wigan Athletic along with Per Frandsen. He would enjoy promotion to the Premier League there, but was not able to hold down his place once the team was in the Prem.

He would eventually end up in Japan with Vissel Kobe.

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He came in with such promise but delivered so little. It is hard to think of a player we have owned with such little end product, and I mean Liam Feeney was a thing.

He came in on loan from Arsenal who snapped him up as a young prospect from Fluminense, who he has since rejoined. On joining Arsenal he did the obligatory couple of years playing in Spain in order to obtain a shiny UK work visa. After all that though his only league appearances in England came for the Wanderers and it was after his unsuccessful loan spell at the Reebok that he moved back to Brazil.

He was a player of much promise who even played for Brazil at under 17 and 21 levels. It is though, at this point at least, a tale of promise unfulfilled.