Bolton Wanderers should make move for departing Derby County player that once turned them down | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers should make a move for Tom Barkhuizen, who once rejected them in favour of joining Derby County.

In what is Steven Schumacher’s first full transfer window as Bolton Wanderers boss, the Trotters are embarking upon something of a shake-up with some high-profile departures and already quite a few incomings.

Schumacher, who replaced Ian Evatt in January, oversaw Wanderers collapsing out of the top six and the play-off places at the back end of last season with just two victories in their last 11 games.

However, in what is the start of a new era for the club, Bolton are seeking to produce something of an overhaul to breathe a bit of freshness and life into a fanbase that has become increasingly disgruntled in the last 12-18 months or so.

Despite it all being new and fresh, one player that Wanderers should be making a move for is a player who turned them down a couple of years ago and that is Tom Barkhuizen.

Bolton should return for Barkhuizen

The former Preston North End attacker departed Derby County this summer at the end of his contract, having joined the Rams in the summer of 2022.

When he opted to move to Derby, it came at the expense of interested Bolton, who were rumoured to be in for the versatile forward at the time, but he instead opted for a move to Pride Park.

Bolton supporters may well therefore be a little put off by his arrival, but it may well help them to swallow their pride and accept that Barkhuizen would be an excellent addition to a promotion challenger in League One.

His experience and pedigree, as well as versatility in attack, would mark him out as a potentially pivotal addition, should Wanderers choose to make a move for the 31-year-old free agent. He's made nearly 250 appearances in the Championship, as well as over 100 in League One - between 2022 and 2024, he scored 10 goals and registered 11 assists at the level, showing how solid a contributor he is.

With Wanderers interested in Kelly N’Mai of Salford City, the Dutchman would operate as a direct, intricate threat on the left-hand side, whilst the right-hand side may well be where someone with nous and experience comes into their own, and that makes Barkhuizen an ideal candidate.

Bolton are doing their business early

This summer has seen the arrival of a new Sporting Director, Fergal Harkin, as well as Jimmy Dickinson reuniting with Schumacher as the club’s Head of Recruitment, having worked with the manager at both Bury and Plymouth.

Schumacher discussed the desire to recruit for a different shape this summer, clearly bemoaning the lack of wide options in the squad, and that is another reason as to why Barkhuizen would be a good signing.

Providing the right profile, both in terms of age and style, for the Schumacher ‘revolution’, of sorts, Barkhuizen would seem like quite an obvious and yet shrewd pick-up by the Whites.

So far this summer, Wanderers have brought in five new signings with Teddy Sharman-Lowe joining on loan from Chelsea and Xavier Simons signing for an undisclosed fee from Hull City, whilst Sam Dalby, Charlie Warren and Richard Taylor have all joined on free transfers from Wrexham, Felixstowe and Walton United and Saint Mirren, respectively.

Schumacher's gung-ho style of football, especially at home, is likely to be played in a 4-2-3-1 system at Bolton next season and with more technical players in the 'number ten' and left-wing positions, such as Joel Randall and potentially N'Mai, the need for a point of difference on the right is there.

Barkhuizen would represent that, with his strong work ethic and ability to read the game well to get into positions to score goals and create chances by finding pockets of space, as opposed to N'Mai, who would likely be more ball-dominant and force things.

Barkhuizen very nearly joined Evatt's side a couple of years ago but there would have been question marks about where he would have fit in his system, so it actually may well be a bonus that he didn't join then and could now arrive in time to help Bolton at the start of their rebuild.