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Ian Evatt reckons he has ample attacking options to make a promotion challenge in League One this season.
The Wanderers boss has seen Amadou Bakayoko, Dion Charles, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Elias Kachunga hit the back of the net already in pre-season.
He can also bank on the versatile Dapo Afolayan – who has also opened his goal-scoring account this summer.
There had been strong rumours that Evatt was looking to bolster his attack, with reports linking him to ex-Preston North End man, Tom Barkhuizen, who has now signed for Derby County.
But speaking after Saturday’s 3-1 win at Chorley, the Bolton boss maintained he was content with the options at his disposal.
He said: “I think the top end of the pitch is really exciting and people keep telling me that we might need another striker, but if we keep the four we’ve got and Dapo fit and healthy and available for selection, why do we need another one?
“The more numbers that we bring in, it’s harder for me to keep everybody happy and to manage to be honest. The most important footballers in any football club are the one out of the team because they’re the ones that create the culture and environment, it’s them that you have to keep happy.
“The ones in the starting XI are easy to keep happy, they’re playing every week, but it’s the others that it’s more challenging so we have to keep everybody on board and sometimes the more options you have and the more numbers you create and bring in, things become more difficult and it can actually turn things the other way, so we have to be really careful.”
Wanderers have scored 12 times in their first two friendly games but Evatt walked off the pitch on Saturday knowing his side could have performed better.
Evatt takes his side to Stockport County’s Carrington training ground on Tuesday for a friendly which will be played behind closed doors, expecting to see an improvement.
“Everyone calls me a grumpy man for a reason!” he said. “I am a perfectionist but I don’t believe perfection exists and I’m always striving to be better.
“I am always pushing us to be better because we all know the expectation has risen immensely this season and if you want to achieve anything in life then the achievements start from day one and not during or at the end of football seasons.
“Those standards we’re going to driving all of the time. I am going to keep pushing these players and they have to be bought into what we want to achieve. It doesn’t happen or start in the mid or end of season, it happens in pre-season and that’s what we’re trying to drill into the players right now.”
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