il est confiant sur le fait que le grec signera une prolongation de contrat avec les wanderers.
Stelios is staying at Bolton insists Allardyce
BOLTON manager Sam Allardyce is optimistic he can convince Stelios Giannakopoulos to stay at the club even though he has failed to entice a string of big-name targets to the Reebok Stadium this summer.
The Greek's contract is due to expire at the end of the coming campaign and although Bolton have offered the Euro 2004 winner a lucrative extension he has so far failed to indicate whether he will be willing to sign it.
The Greek midfielder is not due back off holiday until next week but Allardyce believes once he returns he will commit his future to the Lancashire outfit.
"I am very optimistic that he will stay," he said.. "I know there has been some speculation that Liverpool want him and that would interest anybody but I am hopeful he will sign a new deal. He hasn't said anything yet but I think we will get it signed off when Stelios comes back from holiday."
Despite qualifying for the UEFA Cup next season, Allardyce has only met with frustration in his attempts to reinforce the Trotters squad.
He did manage to sign El-Hadji Diouf on a permanent transfer from Liverpool, and has also captured promising Oman goal-keeper Ali Al Habsi - but he will not be available until mid-season.
Other than that, it has been one frustrating failure after another for Allardyce, who is now back in the familiar position of having to conclude last-minute deals.
"It has been extremely tough in terms of new sign-ings," he said..
"First of all we thought we were going to get Diet-mar Hamann from Liverpool but that failed to mate-rialise.
"Then we must have gone after another eight or 10 players and though we got somewhere down the line all of them for one reason or another fell through.
"In some cases they just decided to stop where they were, in others someone else came in with a bigger offer.
"All in all it has been a hugely disappointing scenario."
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