Bolton Wanderers must seal Derby County transfer this summer - It’s be best for all parties | OneFootball

Winger Corey Blackett-Taylor scored a stoppage-time stunner for Bolton against Wycombe; his new club should try to that make his loan deal permanent.

Bolton Wanderers might have left it too late for automatic promotion this season, but irrespective of what division they're in next season, they should already be lining up one specific piece of transfer business.

It was the most dramatic moment seen at The Toughsheet Community Stadium so far this season, and one player stole the headlines.

Bolton Wanderers had already managed to claw back a two-goal deficit at home to Wycombe Wanderers to 2-2 when, five minutes into stoppage-time, winger Corey Blackett-Taylor demonstrated just how valuable he could be to the club that he signed for on loan from Derby County at the end of January by scoring an outstanding winning goal for them.

Blackett-Taylor seemed to be running down a bit of a blind alley on the Bolton left when he stepped inside, leaving two defenders in his wake, before curling the ball around the Wycombe goalkeeper Will Norris and inside the far post to snatch all three points for the Lancashire promotion-chasers.

Corey Blackett-Taylor is proving to be a matchwinner in Bolton Wanderers colours

The left-winger is only with Bolton until the end of this season, but they must surely now be giving consideration to trying to make that loan deal permanent at the end of this season, whether they find a route back into the Championship this season or not.

This wasn't the first time though that Blackett-Taylor has had a dramatic effect on his new club's fortunes.

After having arrived from Derby at the end of the January transfer window, he was only 13 minutes into his Bolton debut when he scored what turned out to be the winning goal for his new club away to AFC Wimbledon.

All of this marks a very different second half of the season for the winger to his first. Blackett-Taylor started his season in style, providing the cross for Carlton Morris to score Derby's first league goal of the season away to Stoke City on the opening weekend in the Championship.

But it didn't take long for things to turn sour for him at Pride Park. He limped from the pitch with ten minutes left to play, and it was later confirmed that he would miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Unable to break back into the starting 11 following his return from injury, he was largely limited to appearances from the bench until the decision was made to send him out on loan for more game-time.

Corey Blackett-Taylor could be available for a reasonable fee come the summer - Bolton Wanderers should pounce

The injury that disrupted the opening stage of the 2025-26 season wasn't the first time that Corey Blackett-Taylor's career had been disrupted since he permanently moved to Derby County from Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2024 for £300,000 following a successful half-season on loan at Pride Park.

A hamstring injury kept him out for much of 2024-25, limiting him to just 12 Championship appearances for the Rams in a frustrating season for the left-winger.

At the end of the season, he told BBC Radio Derby: "I feel that I've been unfortunate with injuries and I've not been able to fully get going. That has really been on my mind, but I'm definitely confident that it can happen."

Making that move permanent at the end of the season should, following that Wycombe goal, be close to the top of Bolton's priorities.

Blackett-Taylor signed a three-year contract with Derby County when he signed for them on a permanent basis, so he only has one year left on his contract come the summer, and he could be sold on for a relatively modest fee.

Derby have been successful this season in his absence, having risen to seventh place in the Championship after only narrowly relegation at the end of 2024-25, so this could turn out to be a move which could work well for both the buying club and the selling club, as well as the player himself.

Goals like the one he scored against Wycombe certainly won't have done his case for a permanent move to Bolton Wanderers any harm at all, and Steven Schumacher could do with someone of his ilk for whatever division the Trotters are in come 2026-27.