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After writing off their chances of signing Paris Maghoma this summer, Wanderers face a big decision in the heart of their midfield.
Ian Evatt had hoped to bring in the Brentford man if the club got promotion to the Championship but failure to do so now leaves a gap to fill.
Kyle Dempsey and Aaron Morley spent much of the second half of the season picking around the edges of the first team action and will want to stake their own claim for a regular start.
Likewise, Carlos Mendes Gomes will want his name to be in contention once he has returned from a serious Achillies tendon injury.
Continuing our breakdown of the Wanderers squad, we have looked at the existing options for Bolton in midfield, how they fared this season, and what their targets will be when the new campaign kicks off in August.
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GEORGE THOMASON
This was the season that Thomason officially graduated into a bona fide first team regular but there is little doubt which area of his game must be improved if he is to remain that way. A club record 22 yellow cards accounted for virtually a quarter of the total picked up by the entire squad this season, often overshadowing the progress being made elsewhere in his game.
Thomason has not fallen foul of referees for making especially ugly challenges – save for potentially the one that earned him a red card against Northampton Town – but more that have fallen into the ‘naïve’ category.
Playing as the deeper lying midfielder in the early part of the season, some of the indiscretions were understandable. To use the common football parlance, he took a couple ‘for the team’ in order to stop quick counters. Ian Evatt has also questioned whether he has developed an unfair reputation.
It is certainly a shame that indiscipline should dominate the conversation in what has been an encouraging campaign. Thomason showed more of himself as an attacking midfielder than ever before, coming up with some important goals against Wycombe, Blackpool, Cambridge and Oxford, and his tactical understanding is also as good as anyone else in the side.
Moreover, he has earned respect around the fanbase for his vocal and demonstrative leadership, being tipped as a captain for the future.
Verdict: Wanderers may find it difficult to keep hold of Thomason this summer. He may have collected yellow cards like Panini stickers this season but he has become a key playing asset. 7/10.
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JOSH SHEEHAN
One of Wanderers most eminently watchable players when he is on his game, and the conduit through which most of the team’s possession passes. But that has made the diminutive Welshman a marked man, creating issues that were painfully evident in the play-off final.
Put simply, Bolton have to discover a way of playing over or around Sheehan if he is constricted in the way he was at Wembley. Oxford’s plan to cut off the central passing lanes was smart and left Sheehan a relative spectator on a pitch that should have been his canvass.
Sheehan rightly won the club’s Player of the Year award for having impacted more games than anyone else in Evatt’s squad but against the best sides at this level he still has something to prove.
More often, opposing teams try to kick him out of games – and it has become a standing joke in the press box that players get three ‘free’ fouls on Sheehan before officials start to take notice. He seems to handle the physicality well but when Bolton cannot find the necessary space to get him into the game, they so often encounter problems. One to work on.
Verdict: Probably the best season of his professional career and yet he still needs to deliver on the very biggest occasion. Vitally important to Bolton’s cause. 8/10.
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KYLE DEMPSEY
Lauded for his efforts to spark something off the bench at Wembley and often the go-to man if Bolton are subdued, Dempsey certainly won’t want to foster the reputation of being an impact player.
Just four games into the season a heavy challenge against Fleetwood caused a back injury that would eventually manifest itself as a fracture. Wanderers had learned heavily on Dempsey prior to a two-month spell out of the starting line-up, during which the Sheehan-Thomason-Maghoma midfield triumvirate started to take shape.
But for a cluster of games in February, starts have been few and far between for Dempsey since the turn of the year. And though his energy and ball-carrying has been a vital tool off the bench, he will want to put a marker down this summer to show that he can once again be relied upon as a regular starter.
Verdict: Strikes a chord with the Bolton fans with the way he plays the game and perhaps Maghoma’s exit will open a door? 6.5/10.
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CARLOS MENDES GOMES
In a season where Wanderers have had to contend with plenty of injuries, the truly devastating impact of Mendes Gomes’s ruptured Achillies may have been lost in the post-Wigan Athletic furore.
The former Luton Town man was finally looking like he could hit his stride with the Whites and had started the previous two games before going to the DW Stadium.
Hamstring issues had stopped him getting going earlier or building on his first goal for the club against Salford City in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
It wasn’t immediately clear where he would fit in the Bolton jigsaw – whether as a box-to-box number eight, a number 10 behind the strikers, or playing as a second front man himself. Versatility was a strength, and one wonders what we missed later in the season when attacking options dried up completely.
It seems unlikely we will see much of Mendes Gomes in the first half of the new season and after such a serious injury we can only hope the rehab goes well, and he is able to come back to show us what we were missing.
Verdict: Wanderers paid a decent chunk of money for a player they thought could make a major difference. Desperately unlucky. 5/10.
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AARON MORLEY
The season ahead will be an important one for Morley, who needs to regain the momentum he had earlier in his time with Wanderers and show he can be a regular starter at this level.
Displaced from the first XI for all but 10 games in League One this season, Morley’s game time has generally been restricted to 10 to 20-minute cameos from the bench, seeing out games and eking out the odd late penalty.
Morley has matured in just over two years with Wanderers and made improvement to the defensive side of his game, which was always the target. But he has not yet done enough to get the push from Evatt and started just two league games since the turn of the year.
Verdict: Been a big year on the personal front for Morley, who became a father for the first time in March, but it has been a frustrating one on the pitch. A big challenge ahead for a player who has all the tools to be a success with the Whites. 5/10.
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After writing off their chances of signing Paris Maghoma this summer, Wanderers face a big decision in the heart of their midfield.
Ian Evatt had hoped to bring in the Brentford man if the club got promotion to the Championship but failure to do so now leaves a gap to fill.
Kyle Dempsey and Aaron Morley spent much of the second half of the season picking around the edges of the first team action and will want to stake their own claim for a regular start.
Likewise, Carlos Mendes Gomes will want his name to be in contention once he has returned from a serious Achillies tendon injury.
Continuing our breakdown of the Wanderers squad, we have looked at the existing options for Bolton in midfield, how they fared this season, and what their targets will be when the new campaign kicks off in August.
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GEORGE THOMASON
This was the season that Thomason officially graduated into a bona fide first team regular but there is little doubt which area of his game must be improved if he is to remain that way. A club record 22 yellow cards accounted for virtually a quarter of the total picked up by the entire squad this season, often overshadowing the progress being made elsewhere in his game.
Thomason has not fallen foul of referees for making especially ugly challenges – save for potentially the one that earned him a red card against Northampton Town – but more that have fallen into the ‘naïve’ category.
Playing as the deeper lying midfielder in the early part of the season, some of the indiscretions were understandable. To use the common football parlance, he took a couple ‘for the team’ in order to stop quick counters. Ian Evatt has also questioned whether he has developed an unfair reputation.
It is certainly a shame that indiscipline should dominate the conversation in what has been an encouraging campaign. Thomason showed more of himself as an attacking midfielder than ever before, coming up with some important goals against Wycombe, Blackpool, Cambridge and Oxford, and his tactical understanding is also as good as anyone else in the side.
Moreover, he has earned respect around the fanbase for his vocal and demonstrative leadership, being tipped as a captain for the future.
Verdict: Wanderers may find it difficult to keep hold of Thomason this summer. He may have collected yellow cards like Panini stickers this season but he has become a key playing asset. 7/10.
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JOSH SHEEHAN
One of Wanderers most eminently watchable players when he is on his game, and the conduit through which most of the team’s possession passes. But that has made the diminutive Welshman a marked man, creating issues that were painfully evident in the play-off final.
Put simply, Bolton have to discover a way of playing over or around Sheehan if he is constricted in the way he was at Wembley. Oxford’s plan to cut off the central passing lanes was smart and left Sheehan a relative spectator on a pitch that should have been his canvass.
Sheehan rightly won the club’s Player of the Year award for having impacted more games than anyone else in Evatt’s squad but against the best sides at this level he still has something to prove.
More often, opposing teams try to kick him out of games – and it has become a standing joke in the press box that players get three ‘free’ fouls on Sheehan before officials start to take notice. He seems to handle the physicality well but when Bolton cannot find the necessary space to get him into the game, they so often encounter problems. One to work on.
Verdict: Probably the best season of his professional career and yet he still needs to deliver on the very biggest occasion. Vitally important to Bolton’s cause. 8/10.
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KYLE DEMPSEY
Lauded for his efforts to spark something off the bench at Wembley and often the go-to man if Bolton are subdued, Dempsey certainly won’t want to foster the reputation of being an impact player.
Just four games into the season a heavy challenge against Fleetwood caused a back injury that would eventually manifest itself as a fracture. Wanderers had learned heavily on Dempsey prior to a two-month spell out of the starting line-up, during which the Sheehan-Thomason-Maghoma midfield triumvirate started to take shape.
But for a cluster of games in February, starts have been few and far between for Dempsey since the turn of the year. And though his energy and ball-carrying has been a vital tool off the bench, he will want to put a marker down this summer to show that he can once again be relied upon as a regular starter.
Verdict: Strikes a chord with the Bolton fans with the way he plays the game and perhaps Maghoma’s exit will open a door? 6.5/10.
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CARLOS MENDES GOMES
In a season where Wanderers have had to contend with plenty of injuries, the truly devastating impact of Mendes Gomes’s ruptured Achillies may have been lost in the post-Wigan Athletic furore.
The former Luton Town man was finally looking like he could hit his stride with the Whites and had started the previous two games before going to the DW Stadium.
Hamstring issues had stopped him getting going earlier or building on his first goal for the club against Salford City in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
It wasn’t immediately clear where he would fit in the Bolton jigsaw – whether as a box-to-box number eight, a number 10 behind the strikers, or playing as a second front man himself. Versatility was a strength, and one wonders what we missed later in the season when attacking options dried up completely.
It seems unlikely we will see much of Mendes Gomes in the first half of the new season and after such a serious injury we can only hope the rehab goes well, and he is able to come back to show us what we were missing.
Verdict: Wanderers paid a decent chunk of money for a player they thought could make a major difference. Desperately unlucky. 5/10.
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AARON MORLEY
The season ahead will be an important one for Morley, who needs to regain the momentum he had earlier in his time with Wanderers and show he can be a regular starter at this level.
Displaced from the first XI for all but 10 games in League One this season, Morley’s game time has generally been restricted to 10 to 20-minute cameos from the bench, seeing out games and eking out the odd late penalty.
Morley has matured in just over two years with Wanderers and made improvement to the defensive side of his game, which was always the target. But he has not yet done enough to get the push from Evatt and started just two league games since the turn of the year.
Verdict: Been a big year on the personal front for Morley, who became a father for the first time in March, but it has been a frustrating one on the pitch. A big challenge ahead for a player who has all the tools to be a success with the Whites. 5/10.
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