YOURI Djorkaeff has pledged the rest of his career to Bolton Wanderers.
One of the world's greatest creative midfield talents of recent years today signed a contract to stay at the Reebok Stadium for the next two years.
Manager Sam Allardyce's third major international signing - following top Turkish midfielder Bulent Akin and African legend Jay Jay Okocha - will be 36 when his contract ends meaning Wanderers will get the last two good years out of the 1998 World Cup winner who figured in last month's World Cup.
He was unveiled at a press conference today at Wanderers where he was a massive hit on a short term contract at the end of last season.
Talks began yesterday and Djorkaeff did not need too much persuasion after liking what he saw during a successful 12-game stint in which he scored four goals and was influential in keeping Wanderers in the Premiership.
Djorkaeff was impressed with the set-up at the Reebok Stadium last season but wanted to see evidence of Wanderers' ambition to not just survive but compete in the Premiership before rejoining.
Sam Allardyce has made it clear all summer that the former Strasbourg, Monaco, Paris St Germain, Inter Milan and Kaiserslautern star was one of his priority targets and his signing of Okocha and Bulent along with the ongoing talks with Nigerian World Cup star Taribo West cannot have failed to have impressed Djorkaeff.
Allardyce's team building is moving on apace with Paul Warhurst having signed a new one-year deal and club skipper Gudni Bergsson offered the same length contract.
Certainly a team with Okocha, Akin, Djorkaeff and possibly West along with the quality which already exists in the Reebok squad will fill the fans with excitement and confidence and could have a beneficial spin-off effect of sending season ticket sales soaring towards the unprecedented 20,000 mark after already eclipsing last season's total sales with the current figure having surpassed 17,000.
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