Bolton Wanderers hit the jackpot with £100k transfer – Norwich City missed out | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers beat Norwich City to the signing of Jussi Jaaskelainen in 1997 and he went on to be a club legend.

Back in 1997, then second-tier Bolton Wanderers were looking abroad for new recruits and they brought in a young Finnish ‘keeper named Jussi Jaaskelainen from VPS.

For a fee believed to be in the region of £100,000, Jaaskelainen proved himself to be one of the best bargain deals in the club’s history as he grew into being the Trotters’ number one goalkeeper for over a decade.

Having been third-choice goalkeeper when he joined initially, behind both Keith Branagan and Gavin Ward, Jaaskelainen went on to make 530 appearances for the Whites across a 15-year stint with the Lancastrians.

He became one of the very best goalkeepers in the Premier League, too, as well as being the only ‘keeper to rival the legacy and quality of Bolton legend Eddie Hopkinson between the sticks.

He did all that and Bolton managed to get all of that for a bargain deal – and a deal that perhaps should never had happened had Norwich City pounced when they had the opportunity to do so.

How Jaaskelainen became a cult here at Bolton

Having grown into his career at MP, where he played his youth football, and then at VPS, Jaaskelainen initially moved across to England for a trial with Norwich down in Norfolk.

However, despite impressing at that trial, he didn’t join the Canaries and instead moved to Bolton, having been convinced to move to Burnden Park by then manager Colin Todd.

Jaaskelainen would go on to be a fulcrum of the Wanderers side that gained promotion back to the top-flight in 2001, having been a mainstay for a couple of years after overtaking both Branagan and Ward.

The Fin was the base of the ‘Bolton Galacticos’ under the management of Sam Allardyce, often credited with winning Bolton games they simply had no right to win.

One of the very best examples of that would be his performance away from home against Manchester City in September 2005, in one of the most one-sided games ever that saw Bolton, utterly battered by City, pinch a 1-0 win late on via a Gary Speed penalty.

Perhaps more memorable, though, not for his overall performance but for a couple of moments in time that cemented his spot as a Bolton legend came against local rivals Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

In another backs to the wall performance in which Kevin Nolan was sent off and Ivan Campo had scored the only goal of the game, Jaaskelainen pulled off two late penalty saves to deny Benni McCarthy an equaliser for Rovers and keep Bolton’s hopes of a top four push going.

Jaaskelainen was one of the Premier League’s best

His famous double save against Arsenal in November 2006 and consistently outrageous performances against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United marked Jaaskelainen out as one of the very best goalkeepers in the Premier League, at a time whereby the league was blessed with shot stoppers such as Petr Cech, Edwin van der Sar, Shay Given and Brad Friedel among many others.

Approaching the January transfer window of 2005, both the Gunners and United were said to be interested in signing Jaaskelainen, but Bolton managed to hold on to him.

Jaaskelainen, even after his 15-year stint at Bolton came to an end following their relegation to the Championship in 2012, was not done with top-flight action there.

He instead moved to newly-promoted West Ham United and played all 38 games of their 2012/13 campaign, before becoming second-choice at Upton Park in the seasons that followed.

His career in England eventually finished with a stint at another of Bolton’s local rivals, Wigan Athletic, before joining ATK in the Indian Super League for a short period between 2017 and 2018.

Jaaskelainen, who earned 56 caps for Finland, joined Wanderers in a low key deal nearly 30 years’ ago, but it was such as a masterstroke by Todd to convince him to join that he is still, and perhaps forever will be, remembered as a Bolton Wanderers legend.