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Victor Adeboyejo is currently in the best nick of his Bolton Wanderers career, says Ian Evatt.
The former Barnsley striker came off the bench to score the winning goal at Leyton Orient on the opening day of the League One season, carrying on some impressive form in pre-season.
Adeboyejo’s name has regularly surfaced in the transfer gossip columns over the last few months – with Championship side Plymouth Argyle the latest name in the frame.
But after spending the last 18 months developing Adeboyejo’s game as a centre forward, Evatt is in no mood to let him leave the Toughsheet Stadium before he has reaped the rewards.
“I thought Victor was outstanding,” he said after giving the 26-year-old a start against Mansfield in the Carabao Cup in midweek. “He led the line too well at times and made us go slightly too direct because he was winning so much.
“He is still developing as a nine, he hasn’t played there all his life, just this last couple of years, and he is still learning how to use his body, centrally, and that was a very good performance.
“This is the best we have had him. It is the best condition, number one, but also he is looking sharp, his box movement has always been very good and you saw that again at Orient on Saturday – even though people will say it was a mistake from the keeper, but he is in exactly the right place to take advantage of it. That’s Victor, he can sniff out those chances and it was great to see him take one.
“He will be a very important player for us this season.”
Last season’s top scorer, Dion Charles, was preferred to Adeboyejo on the opening day of the season – which given the relative lack of football he had played in pre-season came as some surprise when the team-sheets were handed in.
Charles rewarded his selection with the opening goal of the game. Evatt insists, however, that his selection choices will depend on opponents just as much as form, and he was delighted with the way Adeboyejo had responded when he entered the pitch in the second half at Brisbane Road.
“I would completely understand frustration, and that’s football,” he said. “I felt before the game that it would suit Dion more because of his movement in behind. And that materialised because there was lots of space behind but we didn’t really utilise it as well as I would have like them to.
“That team was picked on that opponent, it doesn’t mean to say that Victor is down the pecking order or second in line. In that game I thought Dion was the best option but that might change moving forwards. It is very competitive, and though we are playing three forward players it is only really one ‘nine’ so they have to fight that out – and there’s Dan Nlundulu in that argument as well, Aaron Collins can play there, John McAtee can play there, so we have some good options.
“You look through the team and there are good options now. Whoever plays has a responsibility to do well because I want those decisions to become difficult and the only way they get that way is when players are performing to their maximum.”
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