FANS FEAR RICKETTS RAIDS PREDATORS EYE UP RICKETTS Can Whites keep top striker at Reebok? AS sure as night follows day, Michael Ricketts' call-up to the England squad sparked speculation touting him as a big money transfer target for one of the so-called "big clubs".

On Tuesday it was Spurs and he was valued at £10 million; on Thursday it was Liverpool and the price had been hiked to £15m; tomorrow it could be any number of Premiership outfits in the market for a top line striker - if not now then in the summer.

The fact that Wanderers are perched precariously just outside the relegation zone has only served to fuel the fire, allowing the speculators to trot out the age-old line that starts: "If Bolton go down ...!"

Reebok fans have grown accustomed in recent years to having their best players fall prey to Premiership predators and, despite assurances from the hierarchy, they are understandably worried that Ricketts will be no different than any of his predecessors - Jason McAteer, Alan Stubbs, Sasa Curcic, Alan Thompson, Arnar Gunnlaugsson, Nathan Blake, Claus Jensen and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

They are almost resigned to it. The cream of the talented players Wanderers have developed, discovered, or unearthed over the last decade have been sold to balance the books.

It has been claimed in some cases that the club could not stand in the way of a player who wanted to move on but, however it has been explained, the outcome has always been the same - if the offer is big enough, the deal will be done,

Now, according to Phil Gartside, that situation has changed ... for the better.

Responding to the Ricketts' speculation this week, the chairman insisted that Wanderers, although more than £30 million in the red, are not under pressure to sell any player and stated categorically: "Michael Ricketts is a Bolton player now and he will be next year."

Of course, he doesn't know any more than the rest of us whether Wanderers will be in the Premiership or back in the Nationwide League next season. And there is the rub.

For, if they don't manage to beat the drop, they will find it just as difficult to keep Ricketts happy as they did with McAteer, Stubbs or any other player who knew he was capable of playing at a higher level with a bigger club and earning considerably higher wages.

Such is life. Because while they may not be under pressure to cash in on any of their prized assets - as they were when they accepted Chelsea's £4.5m offer for Gudjohnsen case 18 months ago - they could find it's the player himself who is putting the squeeze on. Ricketts has revelled in the success he has enjoyed at the Reebok since arriving from Walsall and will be forever grateful for what Sam Allardyce and Wanderers have done for him - just as they are grateful for what he has done for them. But he is a very ambitious young man and, having shown he is well suited to life at the top, would he be content to play in Division One next season - if things don't work out?

The chairman is confident he will. "The nice thing is that Michael recognises how much Bolton have done for him," he says. "You've got to give credit to Sam and the coaching staff, physios and everybody else who got Michael into the England team as much as Michael himself.

"And Michael appreciates that. He's not going anywhere."

Wanderers have come under fire recently from fans unhappy with the lack of investment in new signings since they won promotion to the Premiership. And it is true that they have spent only modest sums in actual transfer fees - £650,000 for Henrik Pedersen, small instalments on the £700,000 Jermain Johnson deal and latterly £250,000 payments that have brought Derek Niven, Gerald Forchelet and Stig Tofting to the Reebok. But Allardyce has used the loan system to good effect, paying hefty loan fees and high wages to strengthen his survival squad to the point where his chairman is now in a position to say unequivocally that he does not have to sell players.

"That's what we've been striving for," Mr Gartside explains. "That's first base.

"The next base is to lower the debt."

They could do that, of course, by selling players but the chairman prefers the alternative course of action - Premiership survival and another big chunk of television money.

That does not mean Wanderers will shy away from a good bit of business. Everything and everyone has his price, as the chief hinted at when he suggested: "Of course, if someone wants to buy one of our players and wipe off all our debts ... then we'd sell!"

At the last count that would value Ricketts at £33 million.

Any takers?