Home
Ian Evatt says this summer has been the “easiest” in terms of transfers since he took charge at Wanderers.
The Whites have already brought in Jack Iredale, Conor Bradley and Eoin Toal, as well as re-signing England Under-21 goalkeeper James Trafford.
However, the bulk of their business was carried out in January when seven fresh faces arrived at the UniBol.
“I think this summer has been the easiest in terms of recruitment,” said Evatt. “But as I said, we are trying to plan windows ahead so we kind of knew what we were looking for this summer.
“Did we get all of our number one targets? No we didn’t, but that is football and I believe everything happens for a reason.
“Am I happy with what we have got? Absolutely. The level of training and fitness that the group has, and now the culture and environment we have created together is fantastic and I think the players are really going to thrive.
“I think it was important that the board gave us that support in January, to have that immediate boost with the better quality of player and have the finish to the season that we did, and also to be able to ingrain our philosophy, identity and environment.
“For the players to settle and get used to what we do, it has really given them a huge advantage and this summer we have been able to start afresh with a group that is already settled and knows what is expected, how we play an what to expect from the fans.
“It is a huge advantage for us. Obviously, we don’t want to do that in every January window because I think it can be a really difficult window to sign in. But the last two have shown that you can get it right and hopefully this season we have.”
The squad now looks very different from the side that lined up against MK Dons on the opening day last season.
The Bolton chief is pleased with the business that has been done so far but admits there is always a risk when it comes to recruitment.
He added: “I think our recruitment has been generally pretty good. There is lots of hard work that goes into our recruitment – myself, Chris (Markham) and the recruitment analysts behind him.
“There are lots of hours put in to try and make the right decisions with recruitment. It is always a risk but it is about limiting that risk as best as we can.
“We try to do that with the amount of due diligence we do on all of our players. We like to think we have got good value for money, we have done smart business.
“But we will only find out the true value of that come the end of the season really.”
When asked if Wanderers are likely to carry out any more business before the window closes, Evatt said: “I’m never going to say never. I’m always on the lookout.
“But are we desperate? Absolutely not. Do we think we might be challenged for one or two of our own? Maybe.
“You have to be adaptable in transfer windows and we will be. We try to plan for everything and expect the unexpected almost. That is kind of how we have to be.”
Source
