Bolton Wanderers manager Keith Hill says he had no influence in defender Adam Chicksen's decision to turn down a callup from Zimbabwe during the November international break.

The left-back had been eligible to feature for Zimbabwe in their recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia, after being awarded a full passport, but turned down the call-up.

Chicksen would instead play the full 90 minutes of Wanderers' dramatic 1-0 win over MK Dons on Saturday, a result that made it three straight league victories for Keith Hill's side.

Speaking about Chicksen's decision not to represent Zimbabwe over the past week, Hill was keen to make it clear that that was not something that he had an impact on, as he told The Bolton News: “It wasn’t my decision.

“I have found in the past when I tried to persuade players not to represent their country it hasn’t so much backfired, but you have this continual three-way fight between club manager, international manager and player."

Explaining how that battle can have an impact on those various parties, Hill continued: “It gets in the way. It ends up being a provocative thing, too emotional, and it’s wrong.

“I took myself out of the situation as a manager and let him make the decision. It shouldn’t be influenced by me.

“I can’t tell a player not to represent their country. If he feels like it’s something he wants to do, it will happen. It was down to Adam Chicksen and was entirely his call.” 

Chicksen joined Bolton on a short-term contract until January back in September, and has so far made 12 appearances in all competitions for the club.

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Without Chicksen, Zimbabwe were still able to fare reasonably well during the international break, drawing 0-0 with Botswana before beating Zambia 2-1 in their opening two games of their qualifying campaign.

The Verdict

I think this is probably a sensible move from Hill.

By staying out of the debate here, the Bolton manager is not going to upset anybody, something that could work in his favour when it comes to other negotiations further down the line.

I also think that ultimately, Chicksen will probably feel he did the right thing in electing to remain with Bolton rather than accept the call from Zimbabwe.

With his contract at Bolton only set to run for another few months, the 28-year-old is going to want to do all he can to secure a new deal, and showing his commitment to the club by turning down an opportunity to play internationally is something you imagine is only going to help his cause when a decision is made in a few weeks time.