Bolton still hope to sign Petit

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce is still hopeful he can lure Emmanuel Petit to the Reebok Stadium despite the midfielder’s claims he has turned down an approach by the club.

The former France star, still recovering from knee surgery, is out of contract following his release from Chelsea at the end of last season and is searching for a new club.

He has held talks with Bolton and yesterday insisted he will not be moving to Bolton after alleging the Trotters attempted to change details of the contract that was initially offered.

But Allardyce told the club’s official website, www.bwfc.premiumtv.co.uk: “We’ll always be interested in a player of Petit’s pedigree. Until he either hangs up his boots or fixes himself up with another club I’ll be keen to get him on board.”

Petit told L’Equipe yesterday: “The club’s officials wanted to take advantage of my current situation to question some points we had already settled in a previous agreement.

“So I refused to sign. I won’t sell myself cut price just because I had knee surgery.”