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Wanderers boss Ian Evatt says Dapo Afolayan is “maturing all the time” ahead of Saturday’s trip to Accrington.
The former Chelsea youngster has been one of the Whites’ most consistent performers so far this season, having already found the net nine times.
Evatt says Afolayan has come a long way since his Bolton debut but insists the forward is capable of even more.
“I think he’s maturing all the time as a person and as a player. Believe it or not, this is his first full season in men’s professional football,” he told The Bolton News.
“He’s achieved a lot in a short space of time here. It’s a strange one – he has a university background and was at West Ham Under-23s.
“So in terms of football education, he’s still a young man – he came into it late. He’s learning to deal with that side all the time and learning to deal with his emotions, and he’s getting better at it.
“Is he the finished article? Definitely not. But he’s the first to admit it.
“He’s a bright boy, he’s really clued up, he’s tactically intelligent, he understands the game and he’s getting to understand himself a bit more now.”
Afolayan has been fouled more than any other Wanderers player this season and Evatt says he is learning to deal with physical challenges.
The forward hasn’t scored in his last seven matches but the Bolton boss insists he will “come back strong”.
He added: “I think we saw probably three or four in the first 10 minutes on Tuesday which were very heavy tackles, and I think only one of them was a yellow card.
“My bugbear is that minute one to minute 90 should be treated the same way. It doesn’t matter if you make a tackle in minute one or minute 89 – if it deserves a yellow card, it’s a yellow card.
“For some reason, people seem to get free hits early on in games, which I don’t necessarily agree with.
“Dapo is learning all the time to deal with that sort of treatment. He’s having a bit of a quiet spell at the minute but we know he’ll come back strong.
“We know that he’ll create and score goals for us – he’s a big, big player.”
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