Bolton Wanderers must try to strike fresh Brighton transfer agreement – It’s a no brainer | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers should do everything to ensure they keep Amario Cozier-Duberry, who is on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion.

Bolton Wanderers have experienced a major overhaul in the summer transfer window, with the Trotters aiming to push for at least a top six spot in League One, and assert themselves as a promotion contender once again.

Steven Schumacher had warned supporters that a major clearout would be difficult at Wanderers this summer, but the former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss has been granted plenty of changes, and now the pressure is on to ensure that Bolton can be back amongst the challengers in the third-tier.

One key change for Schumacher over the summer would be the different shape that he can now play, having wanted to play with wingers but the previous recruitment team of Ian Evatt and Chris Markham signing players exclusively for a system with wing-backs.

Bolton now have the ability to play a 4-2-3-1, or occasionally a 4-3-3 system, with the arrivals of Thierry Gale, Ibrahim Cissoko, Marcus Forss and Charlie Warren from Rapid Vienna, Toulouse, Middlesbrough and Felixstowe and Walton United.

The key attacking addition, though, and someone who looks as though he could be truly special for the level, is Amario Cozier-Duberry, who has joined on a season-long loan deal from Brighton and Hove Albion, and the Whites will surely already be keen to try and make it a permanent move as quickly as possible.

Amario Cozier-Duberry has special qualities for League One

A highly-rated youngster when coming through the academy at Arsenal, the excellent recruitment and talent identification setup at Brighton believed Cozier-Duberry to be a worthwhile signing when he joined the Seagulls in the summer of 2024.

His quality was ranked so highly that his first loan stint last season saw him move to the Championship, with Blackburn Rovers bringing the London-born winger in on a temporary basis.

He showed flashes of brilliance but was all too inconsistent for Rovers last year, and that allowed Bolton to ambitiously pounce and bring him into the Toughsheet Community Stadium.

Immediately after joining, supporters began to see what could be a real livewire in the third-tier, with his impressive strike against Hibernian in a 2-0 victory at Easter Road in pre-season a highlight, before a similarly impressive finish in a 2-0 win over Preston North End in another friendly.

Cozier-Duberry, who has 21 England youth international caps and played for the U20 side earlier this year, has taken to League One like a duck to water, with the Arsenal academy graduate tormenting defences on a weekly basis.

After earning a couple of assists in his first six appearances in League One, Cozier-Duberry got his first league goal of the campaign against AFC Wimbledon at the weekend, with typically excellent balance and control to cut onto his left foot before drifting a well-placed shot into the far corner.

His superb long-range finish in an EFL Cup first round clash with Sheffield Wednesday, as well already having three assists across all competitions, means it has already been a productive start to the campaign for the youngster.

However, as Bolton continue to grow into this season and look to become one of the contenders for automatic promotion once again, there is a feeling that Cozier-Duberry could yet reach a few higher levels and establish himself as the best attacker in the division, and the player that is feared most by opposition defences.

Early concerns for Bolton over the future of Amario Cozier-Duberry

Such is his undoubted quality, there is a real fear for Bolton supporters that parent club Brighton could recall him in January in order to send him out to a Championship club in order to gain experience of playing more consistently at a higher level.

The same thing has happened to Schumacher before, with Morgan Whittaker recalled by Swansea City after a magnificent start to Plymouth’s title-winning 2022/23 campaign.

Falling in love with a loan player destined to be a star of the top-flight is something Bolton fans have been guilty of on a number of occasions in recent times, with James Trafford and Conor Bradley the most notable names, but even Paris Maghoma now a part of Brentford’s Premier League squad.

Soccer Football - Friendly - Arsenal v Juventus - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - December 17, 2022 Arsenal's Amario Cozier-Duberry in action Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley

Renewing a loan deal for any of those became impossible for Bolton when they failed to gain promotion to the second-tier, and the only way of ensuring Cozier-Duberry remains in Lancashire would surely be if they can get themselves up this season.

It is an early call, with it only being the September international break, but the quality shown by Cozier-Duberry is akin to that of Trafford, Bradley and Maghoma in a Bolton shirt.

It would already appear to be an unlikely and ambitious desire, but Bolton must be thinking about doing everything they possibly can to ensure Cozier-Duberry remains at the club.