The feats of former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha during their time together at Bolton Wanderers of England remain evergreen on the mind of West Bromwich Albion’s current coach, Sam Allardyce, megasportsarena.com reports.
The tactician fondly called ‘Big Sam’ admitted as much when he confessed that he is struggling to produce his club heroics of the past simply because he no longer has available the type of talent he enjoyed from Okocha at The Trotters.
Allardyce singled out Okocha and fellow-veteran, Ivan Campo among the ilk of dazzlers that made things click for Bolton back in the days, but ‘Big Sam’ posited that such talent is now hard to come by in the transfer market.
With deals for Christian Benteke and Andy Carroll already ruled out for him at The Hawthorns, Semi Ajayi’s coach is still scurrying the transfer market looking for bargain buys, but he says the days of glory at Bolton are hard to replicate.
During his days at The Reebok Stadium, Allardyce was happy with the availability of Okocha and Campo, who many thought were past their best at that time, but they went on to prove they were worth the money he splashed on them back them, such that the former England boss has now noted with nostalgia that such talent does not exist these days.
Allardyce added: “The players available now are good players but they are not the same pedigree as the others were. This situation is completely different. Time has moved on.
“The advantage I hope we can use this month is that most clubs across Europe are struggling financially and want to move a player or two on.
“A player who wouldn’t normally come to us in January might have to because the financial implications of that particular club need to be addressed.”
