Bolton Wanderers should approach Walsall transfer with caution - it might not be worth it for anyone | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers have been linked with a move for Walsall midfielder Jamie Jellis but everyone should approach the deal with caution.

As Bolton Wanderers prepare for another season in League One, Steven Schumacher is keen to put his stamp on the Bolton squad, but one transfer that should be avoided is that of Walsall midfielder Jamie Jellis.

According to The Bolton News, Wanderers have eyed up a move for Saddlers’ key midfielder Jellis as they seek reinforcements to a squad that dramatically underperformed last season, finishing ten points behind the top six and the play-off places.

The Trotters have often gambled on players either being able to thrive in a different position to what they were used to or taking a step-up on the quality they have previously shown and there is believed to be a desire for experience in the squad, with links to Ryan Ledson, just released by Preston North End, making sense.

Added quality and perhaps a different character within the squad is required at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, but a move for Jellis is one that seems unlikely to be a good thing for the player as well as the two clubs involved.

Jellis’ desire for a step-up and the blow to Walsall

Walsall collapsed in the second-half of this season with Mat Sadler’s side going from running away with the League Two title to missing out on automatic promotion on the final day of the season in dramatic and excruciating fashion.

The 21-year-old is contracted to the club until this summer, but the club have an option to extend that by a further year and, as exclusively revealed by Football League World in January, he is said to have rejected a new contract from the club.

However, if Walsall were to gain promotion to League One via the play-offs this season, Jellis would surely be tempted to remain at the Bescot Stadium beyond this season as he would be a key player for them in the third-tier.

From a Walsall perspective, losing another key man, as they did with Stoke City loanee Nathan Lowe in January, could prove to be as disastrous as losing Lowe was to their overall quality.

From Jellis’ perspective, he could be moving away from being a guaranteed key player in League One with regular first-team minutes to a demanding club whereby that would not only be a guarantee but also a club where his abilities and profile may not necessarily be required.

Bolton’s need for something else

Whilst Jellis may well have the quality to thrive in the league above, Wanderers, short in a lot of key areas, are not short in the midfield department – albeit they do require further experience, which is not something that a 24-year-old with only 44 EFL appearances, all in League Two, could provide.

Schumacher has discussed Bolton’s fairly haphazard and bizarre recruitment policy of almost stockpiling so-called ‘number tens’ last summer with Klaidi Lolos and John McAtee, as well as the now departed Scott Arfield, brought in before the addition of Joel Randall in January to go alongside the likes of Aaron Collins and Carlos Mendes Gomes.

Schumacher has said he will be recruiting for a different shape and, in Jellis’ favour, would be his versatility because ‘number ten’ may not be where he is expected to play at the Whites.

However, further back in midfield, that desire for experience and know-how is matched by a want for someone with some real grit and bite in the middle of the park, given Wanderers’ often fairly lax and weak performances from midfield, despite the individual quality of the likes of Josh Sheehan, Aaron Morley and George Thomason.

Jellis may well be ready for the step-up to League One, but that could and perhaps should be with Walsall, where he will be guaranteed minutes. If not the Saddlers, then somewhere other than Bolton must surely be a better destination to continue his development.

It would definitely be a big blow for Walsall and would definitely be at least a risky move for Jellis, whilst also not really solving the more pressing issues that Bolton currently have.