No deal for Brazilian playmaker

Denilson is a free agent and has been training with the Trotters in recent days.

“It wasn’t a trial, because that is a bit demeaning for a player of that class,” said the Bolton coach.

“We got a call saying ‘would we like to have a look at him?’. He wasn’t fit, but his class and quality was there for all to see.

“But there are other parts of his game that we didn’t feel we would be able to use to our advantage and would be able to complement everyone else.

“We have spoken with his people and said we won’t be going any further.

“He is a fantastic person and didn’t come here as a ‘big time Charlie’.

“He mixed in with everyone else – and if anyone rang me up about giving him a reference he’d get nothing but positives.”