Why Bolton Wanderers are making major shakeup to their scouting department | OneFootball

Following the arrivals of a new Sporting Director as well as a new Head of Recruitment, Bolton Wanderers have now severed ties with Ludonautics.

As they begin a new era in earnest this summer, Bolton Wanderers are shaking things up behind the scenes and that has continued with the end of their relationship with scouting firm, Ludonautics.

The Trotters finished last season with just two victories in their final 11 games of the campaign, as they collapsed out of the top six and the play-off places.

Former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss Steven Schumacher took charge of the club in late-January, after previous manager Ian Evatt left the club following a year or so of stagnation and decline.

Wanderers majorly underperformed to eventually finish ten points outside the top six, and something had to change at the club if they were to get back on to an upward trajectory.

Now, following the arrivals of sporting director Fergal Harkin and new head of recruitment Jimmy Dickinson, the Whites are also pulling away from Ludonautics.

According to journalist Alan Nixon reporting via his Patreon on Saturday, Bolton are set to end what has been a two-year relationship with scouting firm Ludonautics.

The company, which is owned and was formed by Liverpool CEO Michael Edwards, was hired by the club with a view to bringing in fairly big signings from abroad.

However, other than Scott Arfield, the only player to have arrived from overseas that hadn’t been in an academy in England has been Szabolcs Schon from Fehervar, amid reported interest in the likes of Florian Flick and, more recently, Jonas Therkelsen.

Still in League One, the overall plan hasn’t worked out and, as Nixon suggests, the company is now ‘probably’ going to be replaced by human staff within the club.

Sporting Director Harkin recently gave an interview where he discussed potential signings from abroad, and the former Standard Liege director of football explained that that would likely be something for further down the line.

Bolton’s disappointing transfer windows

Schumacher has been keen to complain about transfer windows of the past and the shoddy construction of the Bolton squad, explaining how he would like Wanderers to recruit for a different shape during this summer’s transfer window.

About a month after the departure of Evatt, director of football Chris Markham also left the club, with supporters frustrated at the lack of flexibility and versatility within the squad.

Good players with good potential were often regularly identified by Markham and Evatt, but there is a difference between talent identification and building a squad with the right mix of player profile and, simply, position.

Wanderers have already been busy in this window, with Schumacher looking to put his own stamp on the squad, following the departures of the likes of former captain Ricardo Santos, vice-captain Gethin Jones and goalkeeper Nathan Baxter.

Aaron Collins, who joined the club for a fee of £750,000 in the winter transfer window of 2024, left for Milton Keynes Dons in mid-June, too.

In terms of incomings, Wanderers have brought in Sam Dalby, Richard Taylor and Charlie Warren on free transfers from Wrexham, Saint Mirren and Felixstowe & Walton United respectively, as well as Teddy Sharman-Lowe on loan from Chelsea and Xavier Simons for an undisclosed fee from Hull City.

They have also been heavily linked with a move for Salford City winger Kelly N’Mai and Celtic attacker Johnny Kenny, formerly of Shamrock Rovers.