By GORDON SHARROCK COLIN Todd finally got his man today when Robbie Elliott moved from Newcastle to become the most expensive signing in the history of Bolton Wanderers.

Months of chasing and weeks of negotiating were brought to a successful conclusion when the record-breaking £2.5 million transfer was clinched at a secret meeting on the Algarve.

Newcastle sanctioned the transfer on Friday and within 24 hours Elliott was in Portugal, where Todd is on holiday. They discussed the player's role in Wanderers' future and shook hands on the deal.

Elliott flew back to England yesterday with his agent, Paul Stretford, and the formalities, including a medical, were completed at Burnden by Wanderers chairman Gordon Hargreaves and chief executive, Des McBain. The new signing was then taken to see the progress of work on the new Reebok Stadium.

Wanderers will pay Newcastle an initial fee of £2.2 million with increments, based on appearances, taking the final price to £2.5 million - a million higher than the previous club record.

Elliott, originally a defender who was used successfully as a utility player by the Magpies last season, has been signed for the left-back position.

A delighted Todd described the capture of Elliott as "a major coup". He said signing an established member of the Newcastle squad, which finished Premiership runners-up last season to qualify for a place in the European Champions League, underlined his ambition to transform Wanderers into a force in the top flight.

The deal for the 23-year-old former England U-21 international follows the early summer signing of right back Neil Cox from Middlesbrough for £1.5 million.

Todd has now filled the two defensive positions he targeted as priorities for the close-season and can now concentrate his efforts on recruiting the top line striker he requires to inject extra firepower into last season's record-breaking forward line.

"This is another step in the right direction," the manager said. "It shows how far we have come as a club and how far we aim to go when we can prise a top player from a top club.

"I've signed players for two of the positions I was always planning to strengthen and I think the calibre of the signings sends out the right signals to our supporters and to our opponents. We really mean business.

"Neil and Robbie both have extensive Premiership experience yet at 25 and 23 respectively they are going to get better and better."

The Elliott deal is, indeed, a significant show of force by Wanderers, who first had to persuade Newcastle to part with a Tyneside favourite, who made a significant contribution to last season's successful run-in under Kenny Dalglish. Then they had to convince the player that they could match his own high ambitions.

"I was chasing Robbie when Kevin Keegan was in charge," Todd revealed. "But there was nothing doing then and the situation hadn't changed when I tried again three weeks ago. Kenny wasn't going to let him go.

"But I persisted and eventually we worked out a deal which has been agreed between the clubs for a couple of weeks. It should have gone through last week, before I came on holiday, but there were one or two snags at Newcastle's end. They were reluctant to let him go but they gave us the green light on Friday after a board meeting.

"I know it's taken time but I said all along that we needed to be patient."

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