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Elias Kachunga may have to settle for being an impact man for the time being at Wanderers.
The former Sheffield Wednesday striker started his first game at Bolton in midweek, playing for an hour in the Carabao Cup at Wigan Athletic.
But Ian Evatt reckons Kachunga’s lack of pre-season preparation means he is unlikely to feature from the start in league games, for now.
“I just don’t think he is ready yet,” said the Whites boss. “After 60 minutes on Tuesday he was absolutely shattered.
“He has had no pre-season and if we would have had more availability in those forward areas, if Lloyd Isgrove was available, if Amadou Bakayoko was available, if Xav Amaechi was available, then we probably wouldn’t have risked him from the start at Wigan.
“The good thing is that he is building all the time, he is improving all the time, but is he ready to start in League One at the moment? Probably the answer is no.
“He is going to be more of an impact player until we build his minutes and fitness up to the required level to start for 90 minutes.”
Evatt does not anticipate any hangover from the midweek penalty shootout defeat at the DW Stadium and will most likely revert to the same side which beat Oxford United for this afternoon’s game at Cambridge United.
The disappointment was evident in the squad after the game, not least from Nathan Delfouneso, who issued an apology via the club’s social media channels for missing the key penalty.
“They all care about this football club and squads in recent history haven’t always done that,” Evatt added. “We love working for this football club, we love being a part of it. We are and have connected with our fanbase and our town and our community and it is a two-way thing.
“It’s reciprocated. We want to be very proud of them which we are and I hope they’re very proud of us and when we feel like we’ve let one of the parties down, we want to feel the need to apologise for it.
“But I don’t think Nathan should have apologised, I don’t think he did it on purpose. I think it has taken bravery to step up in the first place and unfortunately he didn’t execute his penalty well enough.
“How many players over the years have missed penalties? You can probably name most really. It’s part of life, it’s part of football.”
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