Joel Randall insists it was the right time to leave Peterborough United as he aims to put a spark into Bolton Wanderers

The gifted 25 year-old, one of the stars of last season’s excellent Posh team, joined League One rivals Bolton Wanderers on Thursday after the clubs agreed a fee rumoured to be around £1.2 million.

Randall has signed a deal that ties him at Bolton until June, 2028. He is expected to make his debut in Saturday’s League One game at Rotherham United.

Randall only signed an improved Posh deal earlier this season after Bolton’s repeated attempts to prise him away from the Weston Homes Stadium failed. He reportedly fell out with Posh boss Darren Ferguson in September after telling him he wanted to leave.

Randall returned to the fold after apologising, but he has failed to reach the heights of last season, even though he has scored seven times.

Randall told the Bolton News: “It is difficult to perform year on year. Everyone outside football demands and expects perfection every year. Lads in every team are trying their best every game, you don’t go out there to lose, or not play well. Sometimes it happens, and for some reason that is happening at Peterborough right now and some of the Bolton fans might feel it is happening at Bolton as well at the moment. It is football, life, sometimes you can’t put a finger on why.

“This feels like a good time and a right time for me to move on. It is hard when you are playing a certain way and teams are going to clock on to that because they know you are doing something right. They make it harder, which is only to be expected, but you have to go again to counter it. I have still got seven goals this season, I’m happy with that, but now I want to bring that here and do it again in the famous white shirt.

“I can add something and it’s why the manager has brought me here, to add the spark and creativity. I can link-up with players, that’s one of my strengths, and playing with good players raises my level as well. This is a good group and the potential is high.

“Being out there with the lads this morning I can see the talent and the quality they have, so once you get on a rhythm and in a run, I don’t see any reason why we can’t pick up points and get into the play-offs, that’s certainly the goal. Hopefully I can score and create goals, be a bright spark, that’s my role and what I know so I hope I can do that for Bolton.”

Randall leaves Posh after scoring 19 goals in 109 appearances, 21 as a substitute. He joins a team who, like Posh, have underachieved this season as the Trotters are 10th after losing in the League One play-off final last season.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt told the Bolton FC media team: “We worked very hard to try and get Joel here in the summer. “It ended up being unachievable, but things change quickly in football and once we knew we had the potential to make it happen we wanted to work quickly to try and secure his services.

“It's a big signing for us, short and long term. He's a top player who can play in a number of different positions which is important for us.

“We feel the role Paris (Maghoma) played for us in particular last season, being able to receive the ball in tight spaces, dribble, break down low blocks and create, is Joel’s game, so he’s going to add a lot to us.”