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Dapo Afolayan can thrive under the extra exposure he is getting in League One.
That’s the view of Ian Evatt, who reckons his in-form winger won’t be fazed by the attention he has received from the media or opposition defenders in what has been an electric start to the campaign.
The former West Ham man has three goals to his name and has carried the ball more than any player in the division over the course of his first six games.
Afolayan is also the most fouled player in League One – and turned on the style with a man-of-the-match display against Burton Albion on Monday night in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Evatt reckons his improvement since last season is already noticeable after he, Peter Atherton and Sam Hird worked hard on his positioning over the summer.
“We know what we’ve got in Dapo,” he told The Bolton News. “The most important thing for Dapo is that he stays humble, grounded and continues to work hard.
“He listens, he is coachable and I think you can all see that from when we brought him in to where he is now, he has improved and that is because he has listened to me, Pete and Sam and taken on board what we have asked of him.
“All of a sudden, now he carries a serious goal threat.
“Not only his dribbling skills and the way he manipulates the ball, but now he’s getting on the end of things and there’s more production to what he’s doing.”
Afolayan, who came through non-league football with Solihull Moors before signing with West Ham in 2018, has now started 13 consecutive league games for the Whites and missed just one since making his full debut against Stevenage in February.
Brimming with confidence, Evatt is backing the 24-year-old to take his form into the weekend as Bolton travel to Portman Road to face Ipswich Town.
“Knowing the lad he is, all the attention will only spur him on,” said the Bolton boss.
“These really talented players have to have that borderline arrogance and it is borderline and there’s a fine line between overconfidence and the right arrogance.
“For me he’s on the line but that’s exactly where we want him to be because he’s a confident boy and he should be confident because he’s a very good player.”
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