With his team both in top form and heaps of debt, Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle knows that January may be the time to sell high on some of his players.
The Trotters' boss understands the predicament, and won't act as a roadblock towards such — at least as far as star striker Johan Elmander's hypothetical move to Anfield is concerned, according to Mirror Football.
“He has been fantastic for me. The relationship I have got with him is great, it is very upfront and we are quite open with each other," Coyle said.
"If in January a top club, a Champions League club, came in for Johan, it would only be natural that he would turn his head at that. It’s only natural in football.
"It’s never going to faze me, I’m not going to get upset about it. Ultimately, Johan has to do the right thing for him and his family."
“We speak every day. I can’t say we speak about contracts every day because my focus is to ensure he is at his best in games but obviously there was a meeting with the chairman and Johan’s agent. It’s a situation that I’m very comfortable with.
“If Johan decides ultimately to run his contract down to the end of the season then that’s his decision to do that. I don’t have any problem with it.
"So as it is Johan is in his last year but I’m comfortable with it, he is giving me everything he has got game to game, he has been brilliant and long may that continue."
Both Stoke and Newcastle are also said to be interested in Elmander's services, but neither of those clubs seem likely to lure Elmander away from the Reebok — or Anfield. His transfer value is listed at approximately $7 million (4.4 million pounds).
The 29-year old Swede has notched 8 goals and 4 assists in 15 Premier League appearances in 2010 — far and away his best since moving to England in 2008.
As an unselfish, large striker, he would seem a logical fit to pair with Fernando Torres for Liverpool. Still, he is just one of many attackers being linked to a move to Anfield in January.
See one of Elmander's more brilliant recent scores below.
