FOR a brief moment this week, it seemed Dougie Freedman and Lukas Jutkiewicz would finally be reunited at Wanderers, albeit in the colours of Nottingham Forest.

It certainly would have been a cruel twist of fate for Bolton had Burnley got their way and used the former terrace darling as a makeweight in a £4million deal for Henri Lansbury.

Instead, Lansbury has decided to stay put at the City Ground, and Freedman will continue to be estranged from the striker he so desperately wanted to make a Wanderer just over 12 months ago.

Had the Whites managed to muster the cash to sign Jutkiewicz after his impressive loan spell, things might well have been different for Freedman, who had based so much of his rebuilding plans around the former Everton front man.

When Burnley beat Wanderers to the punch Freedman never managed to find another option, and just a few months later he had lost his job.

Fast forward a year later and Freedman is finding it tough once again bolstering his front line and is currently using homespun youngster Tyler Walker as his sole front man, relying on wily winger Chris Burke and the explosive Michail Antonio for support.

Forest are currently working under a transfer embargo for breaking the rules on Financial Fair Play, which has made the search for strikers all the more difficult. A theoretical £10,000 a week wage cap is just one of the many restrictions placed on his spending at present.

That didn’t stop Forest adding to their ranks yesterday, however, as they brought Dutch midfielder Kyle Ebecilio from FC Twente on a season-long loan.

The plug was pulled on a move for Lille’s Swiss striker Michael Frey earlier in the week, leaving Freedman a little short on striking options as he heads for the Macron.

Another familiar name coming back to his old stomping ground is former Wanderers skipper Matt Mills.

Although a regular under Lennon, the big defender’s salary was not one that the club could afford to carry in the current financial climate, and though token efforts were made to keep him, they were done so on a considerably reduced scale.

Coincidentally, it was against Forest that things started to head downhill for Mills at Wanderers last term as a red card at the City Ground started to undermine his position as captain under Lennon.

With his contract up in the summer, and the aforementioned issues of salary, he was gradually phased out and played just one of the last six games as the manager started to look towards the future.

Wanderers have since signed young defender Derik Osede by way of a replacement, and brought in loanee Prince-Desir Gouano, although whether they have truly replaced Mills is debatable.

Without the former Leicester City man in the side, Bolton won just two of 11 games last season. They arguably miss his goals too – with the centre-half racking up five by January and being used as a makeshift striker at times.

Mills has already opened his account for Forest, scoring in their 2-1 win over Rotherham United, and has been ever-present in the Championship thus far.