Christian Bolaños Signs On

By now we all know about the midfielder cum winger from Costa Rica, Christian Bolaños, who has just become Monica's third signing of the week. The impressive Bolanos played in the friendly against Welling and again in the home game with New Zealand and according the the CAFC notes "was the architect of the Charlton goal, clipping a glorious ball over the All Whites rearguard for Marcus Bent who lashed a terrific low drive past Paston and into the bottom left corner."

Bolaños, who has 18 caps and one goal for Costa Rica, first came to prominence last December when he featured for Deportivo Saprissa at the FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. His club had qualified by being CONCACAF champions of North and Central America. In the first match he scored the only goal of the game against Australia's Sydney FC which set up a semi-final date with Liverpool, and despite the eventual 3-0 defeat to the Champions League holders in Yokohama received rave reviews.

The Deportivo Saprissa team notes at the time described him as "direct and dangerous". None other than David Pleat confirmed his skills and added "The signs are that he can also track back, a vital requirement in the Premiership. Against Liverpool and in the third-place game against Al Ittihad he looked to be a worker. Pleat then gave him marks out of 10 of : Speed 8/10, Crossing 7/10, Skill 8/10, Team responsibility 7/10, Shooting 8/10. Full report is here.

Also impressed by his performances against them were Liverpool and he subsequently spent a 10-day trial at Anfield but without getting being offered a contract and he returned to Cost Rica.

During this summer he played in the World Cup in Germany and took part in 2 of the 3 Costa Rican games.

He looks very exciting and works hard too, strange that unlike other available "stars" we didn't have to fight off any opposition for his signing. I have to wonder why Liverpool didn't offer him a contract during the winter? Maybe winter in Liverpool was not really up his street or perhaps his wage demands at the time were thought too high. Or perhaps he did not fit into Benitez plans. And whatever people think of Benitez talents as a manager nobody would call his old Valencia team "exciting".

Whatever the reason, anyone who inspires the description "exciting and dangerous" is definitely someone we need and we have to say he appears a great signing for Charlton. And the risks, if any, are kept to a minimum with a one-year loan deal with the option to buy after one year.

It only remains for Monica now to show his skills in moulding his ever increasing squad into a unit fit for the coming fray.