Blackburn hero Dunn: So close to joining Bolton

Blackburn Rovers ace David Dunn has explained how he almost signed for Bolton Wanderers ahead of returning to Ewood Park.

As he prepared to leave Birmingham City three years ago, Dunn appeared all set to join Bolton, only for Rovers to come in for their former hero at the final minute.

Dunn told the Lancashire Telegraph: “Maybe I was a bit immature when I was younger. I think moving to Birmingham did me a lot of good outside of football. I had three and a half years there which started off so well.

“I just wanted to get back to the North West in the end and to get my career back on track. Blackburn were supposed to be interested but I was in a position where I wanted to get back up here as soon as I could.

“It was a couple of days before the transfer window closed. The whispers had been happening about Blackburn but nothing happened. Then I got the shout a bid had been accepted from Bolton.

“Sam Allardyce wanted to sign me so I was ready for it. I did all the medicals but it took four days.

"I had a feeling maybe some of the medical staff were doing too many things.

"It was thorough but it was like they were trying to find problems. I don’t know for what reason. I was really happy with the deal and I was ready to sign. But then at the 11th hour Blackburn came in and that was it. I was ready to come back to Blackburn.

“I phoned Sam Allardyce up, luckily. It was a hard thing to do at the time. I could have ignored it, but it was only right to tell him myself rather than let him find out by other means.

“Luckily I did that because a couple of years later he got the job at Blackburn and I'm not sure he would have been happy had I not made that phone call.”

 
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