WANDERERS are set to make a statement of serious intent in League Two by wrapping up the signing of Swindon Town striker Eoin Doyle.

The Irishman led the goalscoring charts last season following a prolific run for Richie Wellens’ side but turned down the opportunity to sign a new deal after promotion.

Bolton fought off competition from several other clubs to secure the 32-year-old, who has reportedly been offered a three-year deal at the UniBol.

Since leaving Irish football, Doyle has scored 118 goals in 262 starts, with 71 appearances from the bench. Breaking it down further – he has got a goal every 199 minutes since moving from Sligo Rovers to Hibernian in 2011.

Here, we look at Doyle’s career in detail to see what tempted Wanderers to bring him to the club this summer.

The Bolton News:

HIBERNIAN

Doyle rejected the chance to move to Ipswich in 2011, signing under Colin Calderwood at Easter Road for an undisclosed fee and making his debut in the Edinburgh derby.

He scored in his second start for Hibs, a 3-2 Scottish Cup win at Cowdenbeath, and played 16 times in his first season. He added two more goals – against Kilmarnock and Dunfermline – the second of which helped the team, now managed by Pat Fenlon, escape the drop.

He became more of a regular in his second season and reached double figures as Hibs got to the Scottish Cup final, which proved to be his last game for the club.

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CHESTERFIELD

Doyle had worked with Spireites boss Paul Cook at Sligo Rovers and had a solid first season in English football, grabbing 13 goals. He also picked up his first red card in a 0-0 draw at Bristol Rovers.

The following season was where Doyle’s career would really kick-off. A magnificent run of 25 goals in 33 games caught the eye of Championship side Cardiff City, then managed by Russell Slade. That red hot streak had also included his first hat-trick, against future employers Preston North End.

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CARDIFF CITY

Doyle had options before moving to South Wales – with Sheffield United and MLS franchise New York FC – who had among their ranks at the time players like David Villa and Frank Lampard - reportedly in talks. He opted for Cardiff in a deal worth £750,000 and though he took a while to warm-up for his new club, he finished the 2014/15 season strongly with four goals in four games. During the whole campaign he had netted 30 times in 49 appearances.

It is fair to say Cardiff was not the happiest time in Doyle career, and though his goals-per-minute ratio was reasonable, his fox-in-the-box style did not fit well with the team’s tactical make-up at the time.

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PRESTON NORTH END

After just a couple of cup performances, Doyle moved to Deepdale on loan to help a team looking to stay in the Championship after promotion the previous year.

Again, his goal record was not outstanding. An 86th minute winner against Wanderers in March 2016 was one of just four that season. His overall contribution was enough to convince Simon Grayson to make the move permanent, however, and he had scored a couple more the following season before an incident at Hillsborough which left his manager fuming.

Doyle had got himself on the scoresheet against 10-man Sheffield Wednesday but with his team trailing 2-1 in the final minute he clashed angrily with team-mate – and former Wanderer – Jermaine Beckford, the pair both receiving red cards after having to be pulled apart by their team-mates.

Grayson said: “In 30 years of being a footballer, player or manager, I've never seen an incident like that between two team-mates.”

Doyle only started one more game for Grayson after that – and was loaned out to Portsmouth, who were then playing in League Two.

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PORTSMOUTH

A brief spell on the South Coast wasn’t an especially happy one for Doyle and yielded just two goals from 12 appearances. He returned to Preston, who were now managed by Alex Neil, before being loaned out again at the start of the 2016/17 campaign to Oldham.

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OLDHAM ATHLETIC

Doyle rediscovered his shooting boots in fine style at Boundary Park, scoring 16 goals in 34 games, including nine in 12 between September and October.

He extended his loan after January but was unable to help the Latics stay in League One and returned to Preston the following summer.

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BRADFORD CITY

Much was expected of Doyle as he made a permanent move to Valley Parade to replace the Sunderland-bound Charlie Wyke. Unfortunately, it proved to be a wretched season for the Bantams, who went through three different managers en route to relegation.

Doyle still managed to get into double figures, finishing as the club’s top scorer on 11 league goals, and began the following season in Yorkshire before being packed off on loan to Swindon.

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SWINDON TOWN

Reunited with Richie Wellens, who had been in charge at Oldham, Doyle scored on his Swindon debut against Exeter City and didn’t look back.

Between October 12 and Boxing Day 2019 he scored in 11 consecutive games, matching Jamie Vardy’s achievement in 2015, in a run which included a hat-trick at Crawley.

The move was made permanent in January and Doyle helped Swindon secure automatic promotion as champions, scoring twice in the penultimate game before lockdown at home to Scunthorpe United.

In total last season he scored 25 goals in 36 appearances.