KEVIN Davies has fired a broadside at former team-mate El-Hadji Diouf for jumping ship in the summer.

Wanderers will renew acquaintances with the Senegal international for the first time since his £2.5million transfer to Wearside when they travel to the Stadium of Light.

But there are still those in the Whites’ dressing room who believe Diouf was wrong to turn his back on the Reebok.

Diouf announced back in April that he would leave the club, whether they avoided relegation or not, to go in search of European football.

Davies, for one, was surprised when he chose to join Roy Keane’s Sunderland – a side who finished just one place above Wanderers in the Premier League last season.

“He thinks he has gone on to a better team, we think differently,” the striker said.

“He was a great player for Bolton Wanderers, we’d like to think he would have moved on to something bigger and better than he is now.

“If people want to move on, it is their choice. We have certainly got people in now capable of covering for him.

“He had unbelievable skill, I just felt that sometimes his lifestyle lets him down. He could and should be one of the best players in Europe.”

Davies revealed that he and other senior players instructed Diouf to pull up his socks as Wanderers battled to avoid relegation.

“I think towards the end of last season we could have done with a bit more from him really,” he said.

“He started to do one or two things that wasn’t right for the club. We addressed that as a squad of players, as we do from time to time.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed working with him, he was a good laugh, and it is certainly a lot quieter in the dressing room now.

“But I personally felt that he could have given a bit more for us.”

Never one to duck the headlines, Diouf has again courted controversy since his arrival at Sunderland.

He was reported to have been drinking with two team-mates in a nightclub the night before a 5-0 hammering by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and has paid for his misdemeanour by starting the last five games on the bench.

His actions have not surprised Davies.

“You read the things you’d expect, that he’s been out nightclubbing the day before the game and things like that, whether they are true or not, I don’t know,” he said.

“He has been put on the bench, whether that is a punishment because he has upset Roy Keane I don’t know.

“I’m sure he knew it was a gamble when he signed him because of what he has got up to in the past. I’m sure he thinks he can handle it, so good luck to him.”