Bolton Wanderers eyeing Spurs transfer swoop | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers are reportedly lining up a January transfer move for Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Jamie Donley

Bolton Wanderers will be bidding to capitalise on the upcoming January transfer window in order to strengthen their bid for promotion out of League One and back to the Championship, and are accordingly lining up a loan move for Tottenham Hotspur ace Jamie Donley.

As reported by Alan Nixon of The Sun — via his exclusive Patreon service — Steven Schumacher's side have registered an interest in Donley, who is poised to return to North London from a disappointing loan stint at Stoke City during the first-half of the campaign in the coming days.

Bolton are currently eyeing a return to the Championship under Schumacher, but their hopes of achieving automatic promotion have sustained something of a hit in recent weeks.

The Trotters remain positioned inside the play-offs despite Monday evening's shock 1-0 home defeat to Mansfield Town, although they are now separated from second-placed Lincoln City by a margin of seven points and will know that they need to get it right in January to stand a chance of bridging that gap and heading back to the second-tier automatically come May.

Bolton Wanderers eyeing Spurs, Jamie Donley loan swoop amid Stoke City disappointment

That has prompted Schumacher to explore options heading into the January transfer window, and Nixon's aforementioned update has revealed that Bolton are eager to acquire Donley's services on loan for the remainder of the League One campaign.

It's said that Donley's loan at Stoke is set to end imminently, with the attacking midfielder having featured on just six occasions under Mark Robins in the Potteries, and such an outcome would open the door for a temporary switch elsewhere to be sealed in January.

In spite of Donley's underwhelming spell in Staffordshire, Bolton reportedly "admire" Donley dating back to his electric spell with Leyton Orient in the previous campaign, which saw him light up League One with a return of eight goals and 10 assists to send Richie Wellens' side all the way to the play-off final.

It was no surprise to see Donley earn significant Championship interest thereafter, but it hasn't worked out at Stoke and Nixon's report adds that Spurs could be content to return the playmaker to League One following last term's exploits.

Spurs' Jamie Donley would be an excellent signing for Bolton Wanderers

It's important not to read too much into Donley's time with Stoke, where he has seldom been afforded the opportunities to impress and translate the level of performance shown at third-tier level into the Championship.

There is, of course, the consideration that Robins will have seen Donley every day in training and is therefore well-informed to make such decisions, but you have to feel for the 21-year-old after playing just 77 minutes of Championship football across four league appearances for the play-off hopefuls.

Regular minutes would be more forthcoming at Bolton, who have become overly reliant on the mercurial creative flair of Brighton loan sensation Amario Cozier-Duberry this term and would benefit from easing the burden on the winger moving forwards.

Indeed, Bolton have a particular problem in the attacking midfield slot, where Joel Randall has continued to frustrate supporters this term, and Donley could walk into Schumacher's side and offer an instant game-changing presence.

The Northern Ireland international would bring an added threat of both creativity and goalscoring, and his craft in the final third could prove to be the missing piece in the puzzle for Schumacher as he looks to launch a late assault on the automatic promotion places.