Ian Evatt has vowed that Bolton Wanderers were 'never interested' in signing James McClean after the Wigan Athletic winger claimed that the Trotters were interested.
The 32-year-old winger left Stoke City recently to rejoin the Latics on a one-year deal for his second spell at the DW Stadium.
Prior to his move, reports had suggested Wanderers might be interested, and speaking recently, McClean suggested that could have been the case.
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He told Wigan Today : "I know Bolton were interested but having been here before as a Wigan player, there was never, ever any chance I was going to entertain that.
"I'll be completely honest, the only reason I entertained coming to League One was solely for Wigan."
"League One wasn't something that interested me but I said to my agent from day one - when I found out Wigan were interested - I'd rather go to Wigan, a club that means a lot to me, than a club lower in the Championship.
"The Bolton one, for a lot of reasons, wasn't something I was going to take interest in."
Wanderers boss Ian Evatt, speaking after today's 2-1 comeback win over Oxford United, has responded to the Wigan winger's comments.
And he has completely refuted suggestions that Wanderers were interested in signing McClean, claiming that the player's agent continued to make contact with the Bolton boss even through Evatt had turned down the opportunity to sign the winger.
He said: “I’ve heard them. I find it very amusing. If that’s the case then I think he needs to communicate with his agent, because he didn’t stop ringing me for three weeks after I told him no as well.
“That’s the nature of the beast. It is what it is. We’ve read them, we’ve smiled and laughed at them, and as I said, maybe the communication with his agent after I told his agent no, he carried on ringing, so obviously Bolton’s not all bad to play.
“We were never interested in James McClean. It was his agent trying to get him to us and whether they’ve used us to try and get a better deal out of Wigan, I don’t know.
“That’s sometimes the case, but to come out and make a statement like that, it’s false. It’s just completely false.
“His agent was ringing my phone off the hook.”
