The news of an anterior cruciate ligament injury to Mark Davies, sustained against Peterborough last week undoubtedly struck as a major blow to the Bolton Wanderers late promotion charge. However, in spite of this the club managed to dust themselves off, picking up a third away win of the season against in form Barnsley on Saturday to make it three wins out of three. Bolton impressively became the first team to win at Oakwell in 2013.

Freedman and Lawrence will be delighted with recent weeks, statistically the latest form guide shows their team is the form outfit in the whole division along with high flying Watford. They will be eager to keep the figurative ball rolling in the remaining 11 games to have any hope of reaching the play offs.

In order to achieve this, it is believed Freedman is seeking a replacement for the influential Davies, notably from the Premier League.

One name being linked with the club is Fulham’s Turkish international midfielder Kerim Frei. The teenager has already spent time on loan at Cardiff City this season, before he was recalled by parent club Fulham after only a handful of appearances. First team time at Craven Cottage has been limited for the youngster, making only 5 appearances in the league,   and another in the FA Cup. It was against Blackpool on 5th January Frei made his last appearance.

The midfielder has been irritated by a groin injury since early January, and has only just returned to first team training. Martin Jol may see a move to Bolton as an ideal path to rehabilitating the player back to full fitness. A decision is expected to be made by the Fulham manager soon.

The other target being mentioned at this stage is Manchester City’s forgotten man Scott Sinclair. England Under 21 international Sinclair was a prominent figure for Swansea in recent seasons, firstly helping them gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2011, and then carrying on the purple patch in the Premier League last season. He turned out 35 times last season, scoring 7 goals, including a goal in the 1-1 draw at the Reebok Stadium against Bolton last year. These displays earned him a move to Manchester City in the summer of 2012 on a Bosman.

Since then however, things have been difficult for Sinclair who has managed only 7 appearances so far since moving to the Etihad. If Freedman can manage to convince Mancini this move is the right one it could become a massive coup. A loan deal until the end of the season is believed to be on Freedman’s wish list for the highly rated 23 year old.

If either of these targets are acquired in the coming days it could spell exciting times ahead for the Wanderers, and certainly soften the blow of Davies, filling the hole left by the mercurial figure of Sparky.