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Wanderers have given Dapo Afolayan the green light to leave in January.
German second tier side St Pauli appear to be front runners to sign the 25-year-old attacker but Ian Evatt confirmed yesterday that they were not the only club who have had a bid accepted.
Sources close to the player claim at least one Championship club are interested in taking Afolayan this month, although their identity is as yet unknown.
The Bolton News understands that Afolayan has pushed to leave the University of Bolton Stadium having struggled to nail down a position in the side this season.
Evatt admits tactical changes this season have made it more difficult to play the former West Ham man in his favoured position – but he believes the team’s form this season has shown his choices to be the correct ones.
Furthermore, he is confident that Wanderers will emerge from the January window stronger, regardless of whether Afolayan walks out of the door.
“Don’t get me wrong, Dapo has had some fantastic times here and been a brilliant player but he is only one player, and that doesn’t make a football team,” he told The Bolton News.
“We have had some pretty good results without him and, arguably, since we changed the system if you look at the calendar year I think we have won the third most games. And I know that people can moan about it not being Dapo’s rightful position and everything else.
“The team is functioning pretty well and, unfortunately, Dapo has probably been the biggest sufferer of that. We have tried to adapt and overcome it because he is such a good player and we can try to fit him into other positions but that doesn’t necessarily work out sometimes.
“He has 18 months left on his contract and as a football club we have been asked the most serious question since I have been at the club, in terms of someone wanting one of our better players, and as a club we have decided to accept the offer.
“I am not saying the deal is finished, completed or finalised, but what we have thought about is what is best for us to reinvest and progress again and to keep this club moving forwards.
“That was the decision taken in the best interests of Bolton Wanderers Football Club in mind. We will see what happens.
“Nobody has done anything wrong here. If people are doing well or people like what you have in the team then you get asked questions and challenged. It comes down to whether you think it is the right thing, and I think this is the right thing for us.”
Evatt says his transfer plans for the January window will not change if Afolayan leaves the club and that any cash coming in will go towards future signings.
“Long-term I am confident,” he said, asked if the club would be stronger at the end of the window. “I say that because we shouldn’t necessarily think that if we receive a pot of money in this window we are going to go out and splash it around immediately because it will burn a hole in our pocket.
“What we are trying to do here is keep progressing as a football club, keep the team improving, and I genuinely believe at the end of the transfer window we will be stronger for it – we have for every transfer window I have been at the helm.
“And that is the aim. Be stronger than when we went in.
“But I must repeat – if we receive money for someone then it doesn’t mean to say the board aren’t giving it to me, or if it isn’t spent right away that it isn’t available, it means we might need to hold our horses a bit, be more strategic and work out exactly where it is going to go, who it is going to go on, and that might be the next window, for instance.”
Afolayan is keen to progress his career and while St Pauli are a second tier side in Germany, their reputation and fanbase does represent an interesting career move.
Evatt says recent discussions with the player have revealed his desire to progress.
“I have had lots and lots of conversations with Dapo – lots and lots. And we shouldn’t deny that he is an ambitious young man who wants to play at the highest level as quickly as he possibly can.
“I have no argument with that, he has been wonderful for us. Whatever happens, it should be celebrated for what he has achieved here because he has been a key part of that.
“The ball is very much in his court, it is his decision now. From a club’s point of view we feel the valuation has been met and we will go from there.”
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