By Mark Heys
June 26 2007

Reading's contraversial England U21 striker Leroy Lita is said to be on Bolton Wanderers transfer radar according to reports in the Daily Mail and Daily Star newspapers.

The 22-year old has been playing for England in this summers U21 championships and Wanderers have been rumoured to be preparing a £5 million bid.

Lita, a former Chelsea junior born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, first burst onto the scene with Bristol City in 2002 after being given a second chance in football by the then City boss Brian Tinnion and he responded by hitting 31 goals in 85 games for the Ashton Gate club.

In July 2005 he became Reading's record signing when Steve Coppell splashed out £1 million to bring him to the Madejski Stadium and within his first season he helped the Royals into the Premiership for the first time in their history.

Unfortunately Lita's career has come with it's fair share of bad publicity, he was arrested last year on suspicion of assault whilst on a night out in Bristol and earlier this year he faced a misconduct charge for apparently head butting Charlton Athletic defender Talal El-Karkouri.

Bolton boss Sammy Lee is in the market for a new striker with Liverpool's Djibril Cisse, Fredi Kanoute of Sevilla and now Lita all mentioned as possible targets, although Kanoute has since ruled out a return to England.

Whether Lee will be prepared to pay the suggested fee of £5 million for Lita remains to be seen but the Trotters would prefer to link any new striker up with Nicolas Anelka rather than be as his replacement.

Anelka has been the subject of a move back to his first English club Arsenal but it appears that some members of the board of directors at the Emirates Stadium are against the move.