Wanderers Wrap-Up West Ham Wonderkids

It’s fair to say that up until now I’ve been rather pessimistic about Bolton Wanderers’ chances in The Championship this season but, just five days until we kick off our campaign, my hopes have been raised a little by an exciting double signing.

Wanderers have completed the double loan transfer of West Ham United youngsters Josh Cullen and Reece Burke, who join the club until January.

I had a chat with a mate at work who’s a big West Ham fan and runs new Twitter fan account @The_Ironworks_ to find out more about our two new arrivals. He told me: “I’ve seen a bit of these two in pre-season, and I think you’ve got two great signings. Burke, without comparing him too closely, reminds me of Rio Ferdinand - I suspect you’ll be playing three at the back with him alongside Beevers and Wheater.

“Some West Ham fans are actually pretty angry about Cullen being allowed to leave, as they wanted to see him push for the first team. He’s a bit like Jack Wilshere in his style of play, and we see him as the natural successor to Mark Noble.”

So it sounds like we’ve got two cracking signings on our hands. Cullen, who’s played 58 games in loan spells at Bradford City, sounds like exactly the kind of player we’ve been missing in our midfield for years. While Burke, who was also on loan at Bradford two seasons ago and spent last season at Wigan Athletic, sounds like the kind of defender we need who can actually pick a pass if we’re going to stick with three at the back.

Here’s a bit of West Ham reaction to the deal:

And you can hear both Cullen and Burke’s reactions to joining Bolton in the videos below: