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Jon Dadi Bodvarsson can be a “difference maker” in Wanderers’ promotion bid this season, says Ian Evatt.
Fully fit again after four months on the side-lines with an ankle injury, the Icelandic striker’s reappearance in training this summer does evoke the old footballing cliché about ‘feeling like a new signing’.
That is certainly the case for Wanderers boss Ian Evatt, who feels Bodvarsson could have made a big difference in last season’s run-in, where his side fell short in the play-off semi-finals.
Jack Iredale’s return from a knee injury has also given the Whites an extra option on the left, and having both players back available has been a reminder to Evatt of what his side was missing last term.
“We walk about the improvements we have to make on last season, the technical and tactical stuff, but we also didn’t have a lot of luck either,” he told The Bolton News.
“When you lose players like Jon or Jack for the whole season in January, I think we did well to get to where we did without those two players, especially when you factor in Rico’s injury, Gethin’s injury, Eoin Toal’s injury.
“You do need the rub of the green, we are going to need it this season. Yes, we will try and mitigate the risk as much as we can and make sure we do the work to make them physical robust but sometimes the contact injuries you just don’t know where they are going to come from.
“Having them back is massive – especially with a player like Jon, who can make a huge difference. I think people forget what an impact it had on us when he picked up the injury because he has been a very important player.”
Bodvarsson has scored 15 times in 45 games across his two seasons with Bolton but has had little good fortune with injury during his time in the North West.
The ankle ligament damage picked up in a game against Portsmouth in January was the only the second time he required surgery in his career – the previous coming just a fortnight earlier when he sustained a badly broken nose against Bristol Rovers.
Evatt is confident that if he can keep the 31-year-old on the pitch more often, that he can supply some of the goals that his side lacked last season, alongside some much-needed attacking experience.
“With Jon, it is about keeping him in one piece, keeping him happy and keeping him enjoying his football, which he is doing,” the manager explained. “It is great to see him back and at this level he is a difference maker.
“This season, provided we can keep him 100 per cent healthy, I think he is going to have a really good one. I think he can be really important for us.”
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