WANDERERS have beaten Championship sides to the loan signing of Liverpool full-back Calvin Ramsay.

The Scotland international has joined the Whites for the rest of the season, having been recalled from a spell with Preston North End.

The club say Ramsay is fit to play and will be available for tomorrow night’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy quarter-final at Blackpool.

Liverpool paid out £4.2million up front for Ramsay in the summer of 2022, a deal which could eventually top £6m.

After a couple of appearances in the cup and Europe, Ramsay was then loaned out to Preston in the Championship but a bout of Covid coupled with a knee injury restricted him to just two league games.

Southampton and Leeds United had both been credited with an interest in taking the 20-year-old on loan but Bolton – who worked wonders with Reds full-back Conor Bradley last season – won the race.

Ian Evatt confirmed the deal this afternoon, adding: “Calvin is a really talented young player,” he said. “He came to Liverpool with a huge reputation and a huge transfer fee for someone of his age, and obviously things didn’t work out for him at Preston for a number of reasons, and we understand them; it can happen.

“We felt the need to bring some competition into that area and to give us some extra options. We are really lucky to have him.

“Our relationship with Liverpool is fantastic and we thank them for trusting us with him.”

Ramsay burst on to the scene with Aberdeen and made his top-flight debut against Dundee United in March 2021. Regarded as one of the most exciting young talents in Scottish football at the time, he played 39 times for the Dons, scoring once, before his big-money move to Liverpool.

Viewed as the back-up to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ramsay’s arrival facilitated Bradley’s move to Bolton. And in a strange quirk of fortune, the Northern Irishman’s form since recently returning from injury has now convinced the Reds to loan Ramsay out to gain more experience.

Wanderers are now looking into a loan move for their own young wing-back, Luke Matheson, who has featured in five first team games this season since his move from Wolves in the summer.

Evatt said of the prospect of players leaving the club before Thursday’s deadline: “There may be one or two loans – not from the first team core group but with Calvin coming in we may allow Luke Matheson to leave on loan to get some experience.

“We are looking to the future with Luke, we have been really impressed with him. He has exceeded our expectations. Rather than him just play in the B Team for the remainder of the season and be limited minutes in the first team, we felt if we could get him to the right club and get him some back-to-back games, it will serve him really well to push for a starting position with us next season.”