Bolton Wanderers cannot afford to play Celtic waiting game – They need to act now | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers must prioritise other targets and move on from Celtic striker Johnny Kenny for the time being.

The 2025/26 EFL season is quickly coming into view, and Bolton Wanderers are finding themselves racing to get some much-needed business done before the opening day of the campaign.

The Trotters have embarked upon something of a rebuild this summer, in what is the first full transfer window of the Steven Schumacher era at the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Several key first-teamers departed at the end of their contracts, such as Nathan Baxter, Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones, whilst the likes of Aaron Collins and George Thomason have been sold on to Milton Keynes Dons and Wrexham respectively.

Wanderers did a lot of their business early and the fundamental nucleus of the squad is intact, but time is ticking and the lack of attacking depth is now beginning to become a concern.

They have an interest in Celtic striker Johnny Kenny, but his performances for the Bhoys in pre-season are delaying any move, and Schumacher and Bolton now have to simply consider moving on, at least for the time being.

Kenny’s stalled move has to wait for Bolton

Bolton reportedly had a bid of £500,000 rejected for the former Shamrock Rovers attacker earlier this summer, and now Wanderers find themselves in limbo.

Brendan Rodgers is seemingly weighing up whether to keep Kenny as a part of Celtic’s first-team squad for next season, or send him out on loan, rather than sanction the sale of the 22-year-old.

His performances have begun to become very impressive, especially in friendlies against Sporting CP and Newcastle United, and that has further delayed any possible move.

That has left Wanderers in a position whereby they are still waiting to see whether a move south of the border for Kenny will be sanctioned this summer, let alone in time for the new season.

Deals are expected to be done later in the window at Bolton, and there are other areas of the squad that need a bit of fine-tuning, but up-front is not one where they can afford to wait too much longer.

Bolton must act now to sign a striker

Steven Schumacher has already discussed his desire to have a striker on board in time for Bolton’s final pre-season friendly of the summer against Preston North End at the Toughsheet Community Stadium this weekend.

Bolton begin their League One campaign with a short trip to Edgeley Park to face a Stockport County side that did the double over Bolton last season, including a 5-0 thrashing of the then-Ian Evatt-led Whites at home.

It is the start of what is a tough beginning to the calendar for Bolton, and will be an early indication as to how good the work and pre-season results that Schumacher has been able to achieve actually is and are.

Klaidi Lolos and Dan Nlundulu have both been told they can leave the club, whilst John McAtee has openly expressed his intention to play in a ‘number ten’ role next season.

Injury-prone Victor Adeboyejo remains unavailable, whilst new signing Sam Dalby has also suffered a hamstring injury during pre-season, and so he is also sidelined.

That leaves David Abimbola, who made his Bolton debut towards the end of last season, as the only striker in the squad with first-team experience, alongside Di’Shon Lawrence, who has featured in pre-season.

It feels as though Wanderers’ business has been smart and swift this summer, leaving only the striker as the missing piece, but that missing piece is now beginning to worry supporters.

It is already later than Bolton would have liked to have got someone in, but it is now becoming pressing that a forward arrives in time for this or next weekend. Otherwise, there is a fear they will once again be playing catch-up, and playing catch-up went very badly last season, with Evatt gone by mid-January and Bolton succumbing to a mid-table finish.

A move for Kenny remains in the balance, and it may be one that still happens later in the window, but another forward simply now has to be the priority for the club.