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Wanderers hope to fend off any late approaches for marksman Dion Charles in the final couple of days of the transfer window.
Ian Evatt has said the club will work hard to secure all their top playing assets before Friday’s deadline – but speculation over his leading scorer and potential interest from the Championship has refused to die down in the last few days.
A frustrated Charles was subbed at half-time in the weekend defeat at Charlton, still seemingly lacking match sharpness after a persistent knee injury which hampered his ability play and train in the first six months of this year.
Nevertheless, the Northern Ireland international has still hit an impressive 51 goals in 125 games for the Whites following a £320,000 move from Accrington Stanley in January 2022 and at the age of 28 his stock is arguably at a career high.
But having worked hard to get the striker fit again, Evatt says Charles is as important as ever to the Bolton cause.
“Dion is a huge player for us and we have witnessed someone who has scored 20 goals back-to-back, the first one since John McGinlay, and he’s a legend of this club,” he said.
“It shows you his quality and what he is capable of doing. And we believe in him.
“Saturday happens, it might have been a kick up the backside for him. But he has reset and he showed what a good player he can be.
“I thought he looked razor sharp and is getting better with every game.”
Fellow striker Victor Adeboyejo has also attracted interest from clubs at home and abroad, according to reports, which means Bolton may have to be on their toes in the final few days of the window.
Victory at Shrewsbury eased them into the third round of the Carabao Cup and restored some confidence lost in the weekend’s defeat at The Valley.
Evatt was thoroughly impressed with the performance and now hopes to keep the positive results going against Exeter City at the Toughsheet.
“That is what I asked of the players, build some momentum, believe in yourselves and energise the game – forget what happened on Saturday,” he said.
“This was a chance for us to go and show what we are, who we are as a team, what we can be, and I thought we did that.”
Jordi Osei-Tutu scored his first Bolton goal in midweek, earning some rave reviews on the left side of defence. Evatt is pleased with the start made by his summer signing but confident he also has plenty of scope for improvement. “He is still getting used to our system and we require our wing-backs to be on the last line a lot, especially on the opposite side of the pitch,” the manager explained. “When we get him there in one-v-one scenarios we saw his energy, pace and ability to drive past defenders, he is going to get better as he gets used to us. He’s a top player who was in the Bundesliga two years ago, so we haven’t seen anything like the best of him yet. We want to get him up to full speed and keep him in one piece.”
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