Hands off!

THREE ‘N’ EAVESY . . . Tom Eaves celebrates after scoring the second of his three goals against Bolton Wanderers last night.

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ATHLETIC boss Paul Dickov has insisted that hat-trick hero Tom Eaves is not for sale unless the club receive a big offer for the teenage striker.

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway, who has already made a bid believed to total around £200,000 for the Liverpool-born prospect, was present at last night’s 3-0 win over Bolton along with numerous scouts from higher-division clubs.

All will have left Boundary Park impressed with the finishing power of the powerful forward, who gave established Premier League centre-backs Gary Cahill and Zat Knight a torrid evening as Athletic cruised to a highly impressive victory.

“People are more than welcome to come and look at Tom, but it is going to cost them a lot of money (to buy him),” said Dickov.

“I don’t know many 18-year-olds playing first-team football that are like Tom Eaves.

“There is a lot of speculation about him, but I can’t help that.

“It is no secret that the club’s financial position is not bad, but it is not great.

“It is the same with any of our players. If someone puts a bid in, it will take a lot of money if it is a player I want to keep.”

Eaves also stated that he is perfectly content to remain at Athletic, the club with which he recently signed a five-year deal.

“I am happy here,” he said. “There is a lot of paper talk, but I am just happy to be in the team.”

Athletic dominated the game virtually from start to finish against a very strong but under-cooked Bolton line-up.

Another top performer on the night for the home side was Lewis Alessandra, who put in a busy stint on the left wing while also taking on the mantle of arch-creator for two of Eaves’s strikes.

While praising the work of the 21-year-old, who at this time last year appeared to have no future at the club after being shipped out to non-league Chester, Dickov also hinted that the players on duty against Bolton made up what he considers his strongest available squad.

“Lewi has been excellent,” Dickov added. “From the first day we came back in pre-season, his attitude has been absolutely spot-on.

“He has deserved his chance. And I said to all the 19 players in the dressing room before the game that they all deserve it, because in pre-season they have done everything that we wanted them to do.

“Lewi is no different. We all know about his ability when he is on the ball, but the unselfish work that he does for the team off it is fantastic.”

Athletic round off their pre-season programme with a home friendly against Preston on Saturday (3pm kick-off).