PHIL Gartside believes Wanderers would not be struggling at the wrong end of the Premier League table if he had managed to persuade Benfica to let him keep Spain Under 21 international Rodrigo at the Reebok.

The Bolton chairman, who repeatedly tried to convince the Portuguese giants to play ball on a deal for Rodrigo last summer after he impressed on loan, is tipping the Brazil-born starlet to become a world star.

And he is convinced things would have gone differently for Owen Coyle’s Whites if he had been available for the current campaign.

“I have tried everything to push through a deal for Rodrigo but the president of Benfica says he is not for sale at any price,” Gartside is reported as saying in O Jogo, the Portuguese daily sports newspaper.

“President (Luis Filipe) Vieira says it not a question of money and that his decision is based on sporting factors.

“Benfica do not want to part with this player because they have high hopes for him.

“If Rodrigo had been with us this season, I am convinced that our situation would be different. Bolton need his goals, but it is not possible.

“I am convinced that, in a few years’ time, Rodrigo will be a global star.”