SAM Allardyce fears he will struggle to keep Nicolas Anelka at the Reebok if Wanderers fail to qualify for Europe.
The French striker signed a four-year contract when he joined the Whites from Fenerbahce in a record £8m deal last August But his future at the club has come under scrutiny this week with Anelka himself implying that, while happy in Bolton, he could be tempted by the prospect of regular Champions League football and with Allardyce suggesting he would be prepared to sell him if Wanderers received a big enough bid.
But the Bolton boss has now added to the debate by suggesting that Anelka may not want to stick around if Wanderers miss out on a UEFA Cup spot.
"We have a very ambitious player who has publicly stated his ambition to play in Europe," he said. "He has got a responsibility as well as all the other players to make sure we achieve our target.
"Without doing so, I don't think Nicolas Anelka would be happy, and nor would any other player. We have lived with the expectations we have built over the last few seasons and now we have to go forward from that.
"The European attraction is crucial to bringing in better-equipped players to be successful both in Europe and the Premiership. That has a big standing now when you are trying to bring players in."
To that end, Allardyce has billed this afternoon's Reebok clash with fourth bottom Sheffield United as a "make or break" encounter.
And, while he had been boosted by the return of Kevin Davies, who has had no adverse reaction to the 60-minute runout he had at Manchester United after a six-match lay-off with a foot injury, he is looking to Anelka to spark a much-needed revival.
He hopes the Frenchman, who has impressed in two appearances for France over the last seven days, can improve on his current 10-goal tally.
"One of our biggest problems is that we have dried up in goal terms," the manager added.
"We have not produced the level of finishing we showed in the early part of the season and Nicolas, in particular, has not scored as many as we'd have liked.
"We need to be more resilient and make sure we get back to keeping clean sheets again so that, we need only score one goal to win a game.But we need to get back to putting the chances away.
"We've got Kevin Davies back, which is important for us. I just hope he hits the form he was in before he was injured because he gives us another dimension.
"We can play off him as well as playing through midfield." For Wanderers, the must-win clash revives painful memories of their meeting at Bramall Lane in November when they squandered two precious Premiership points after leading 2-0.
"I'm still smarting after what should have been a very comfortable win at Sheffield United," Allardyce said, looking back on goals by Rob Hulse and Colin Kazim-Richards in a three-minute spell cancelled out earlier strikes by El-Hadji Diouf and Davies that appeared to have put Wanderers on easy street.
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