2 players that could save Bolton Wanderers six figures in future transfer fees | OneFootball

Both Luke Matheson and Nelson Khumbeni began to break into the Wanderers' first-team fold last year and could begin to establish themselves this time.

Highlights

There are two players that could save Bolton Wanderers six figures on incoming transfers in recent seasons, especially in relative terms when you consider the financial collapses suffered by the Trotters within the last decade.

With £750,000 spent on Aaron Collins in January and £300,000 on Carlos Mendes Gomes last summer to name a couple of quite a few fairly hefty fees for League One level, there may come a time to look within the squad to unearth and polish up a diamond.

The Bolton academy was dismantled and turned into the B Team a couple of years ago, but no player signed by the B Team has yet to come in and establish themselves as a first-team player.

Two players that came closest last year will believe they have developed even further to be genuine members of the first-team squad and those two players are Nelson Khumbeni and Luke Matheson.

Nelson Khumbeni

Nelson Khumbeni arrived in the first wave of Bolton’s new look B Team on a free transfer from Norwich City. The Malawian defensive midfielder was discussed as being perfectly suited to Ian Evatt’s desire for a deep-lying ball-playing destroyer in the midfield, and he has been trusted with a few first-team appearances since arriving at the Trotters. He has two appearances for the Whites’ first-team, one in the EFL Cup and one in the EFL Trophy, where he actually scored in Bolton’s 8-1 defeat of Manchester United’s U21s in the 2023/24 group stages.

Khumbeni has also developed enough to now have EFL pedigree and would therefore be someone potentially of transfer interest to a lot of League One and League Two clubs. After spending a spell on loan in the National League at AFC Fylde last year, he moved to Morecambe and played 18 times for the Shrimps as they established themselves firmly in the middle-of-the-table. With Wanderers likely keen on extra central midfield depth, especially after Paris Maghoma’s loan ended, Khumbeni could well find himself as an extra first-team option for Ian Evatt.

Luke Matheson

Another man from the current B Team setup at Wanderers who moved into the first-team last season is former Rochdale defender Luke Matheson. Once the subject of a £1 million move to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Matheson joined the Whites on a free transfer last year to bolster their reserve team ranks, but his potential to be a genuine League One or League Two regular was seen quite quickly, and he was often involved in the match-day squad.

Along with the occasional appearance on the bench, Matheson featured five times and also scored a goal for the Trotters last season before a move to League of Ireland outfit Bohemians on loan at the start of their 2024 campaign. His loan is due to come to an end later this month, and it is yet to be seen whether the former England U17 and U18 international will come back into the first-team fold under Evatt but, at the age of 21, the potential to be a genuine challenger, or at least competition and at worst cover for Josh Dacres-Cogley, must surely be fulfilled in the next season or two.