Bolton's Promotion Hero Johnston Among Squad Reshuffle
The image of George Johnston lifting Bolton Wanderers back into the Championship at Wembley will live long in the club’s modern history. It will also be his last act in a Bolton shirt.
The club’s longest-serving current player is leaving this summer, released just days after captaining Wanderers to victory over Stockport County in the League One play-off final.
Johnston, 27, has been a constant presence through five turbulent years, arriving as Bolton tried to steady themselves and departing with the club finally back in the second tier. The centre-back, who came through Liverpool’s academy before a spell at Feyenoord, made 188 appearances for Wanderers and wore the armband on their biggest day in a decade.
Promotion has brought celebration. It has also brought a clear, ruthless reset.
Wembley starters shown the door
Johnston is not the only Wembley starter to be moved on. Right-back Jordi Osei-Tutu, another member of Sunday’s line-up, will also leave when his deal expires.
The 27-year-old, signed from German side Bochum in August 2024, made 80 appearances in two years and grew into a reliable outlet on the flank. His departure underlines the scale of the rebuild Steven Schumacher is prepared to undertake, even around players who helped deliver promotion.
The decisions cut into the squad depth as well. Midfielder Kyle Dempsey, an unused substitute at Wembley, has been released, along with Carlos Mendes Gomes, who spent most of the 2025-26 campaign on loan at Exeter City.
These are not marginal calls made in the shadows of mid-table anonymity. They come in the week Bolton’s supporters are still replaying the scenes at Wembley in their heads.
Loan core breaks up
The celebrations have barely died down, yet the spine of Schumacher’s promotion group is already being dismantled by necessity.
A clutch of loan players are heading back to their parent clubs: Johnny Kenny, Rob Apter, Ibrahim Cissoko, Marcus Forss, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Mason Burstow and Amario Cozier-Duberry will all depart, leaving sizeable gaps across the pitch.
Schumacher knew this was coming. League One loans are often short-term fixes; the Championship demands something more permanent, more robust. The manager now faces a demanding summer, tasked with turning a promotion-winning squad into one that can compete, and survive, at a higher level.
The pressure to recruit smartly, and quickly, will be intense.
Schon seals permanent exit
The exits do not stop there. Szabi Schon has completed a permanent move to Hungarian champions ETO FC Gyor after two years on Bolton’s books.
The 25-year-old Hungary midfielder made 44 appearances for Wanderers but spent last season on loan at Gyor, who have now triggered the option to sign him outright. His departure removes another creative option from Schumacher’s pool.
Taken together, it is a stark picture: senior pros released, Wembley starters gone, loanees stripped away, and an international midfielder moving on permanently.
A promotion high, a Championship test
Bolton’s rise back to the Championship has been built on resilience and smart coaching. Now comes a different kind of examination.
Schumacher must construct almost a new team around the core that remains, respecting the contribution of players like Johnston and Osei-Tutu while being unsentimental enough to move the club forward.
The captain who climbed the Wembley steps will not be there on opening day in the Championship. The right-back who ran himself into the ground under the arch will be elsewhere too. Their legacy is clear: they leave Bolton in a better place than they found it.
What comes next will define whether this promotion is a springboard to stability in the second tier or just a brief, exhilarating stop on a longer journey.
