Ian Evatt has opened up on missing out on a couple of transfer window targets as he explained that Bolton Wanderers will have to be patient for further incomings this summer.
Wanderers have returned for pre-season training and have their first friendly match tomorrow evening when they travel to take on non-league side Longridge Town on the road. It is a repeat of how the club began its 2021/22 pre-season campaign.
The Whites have returned from a week-long pre-season training camp in Portugal. Defender Jack Iredale, acquired on a permanent basis from Cambridge United and was the only summer signing on the Algarve.
READ MORE: Encouraging verdict given as Liverpool's Conor Bradley tipped to 'thrive' at Bolton Wanderers
Loanees James Trafford and Conor Bradley have today linked up with Wanderers after being given some time off following international duty by the dup. Goalkeeper Trafford has returned for the season from Manchester City, while right-back Bradley has signed up for the upcoming campaign from Liverpool.
Wanderers are seeking to make potentially two more signings this summer to add further reinforcements to the squad ahead of the new League One season. Evatt has advocated patience when it comes to adding more players for the rest of the transfer window.
The Whites have missed out on a couple of targets this summer, such as walking away from a deal for Fulham's Marlon Fossey and moving on to sign Bradley. Evatt has not named names in terms of players Wanderers have missed out on, but given some details on those Wanderers have moved on from.
He told the Manchester Evening News : “We are going to have to be patient. We did lots of hard work immediately after the January window and highlighted two players in particular.
“We knew both were available and that it was achievable. One player then became a regular in the first team and actually played in the play-off final, so that then became unachievable, and the other has gone to play in the Championship instead of us, which again, we wished him well."
Wanderers finished last season in ninth place in League One, coming in the top 10 upon their return to the third tier of English football. This season, the club is targeting promotion and challenging for a place in the top six.
Evatt feels it will be a tough division to navigate owing to the expectancy all at the club has. But the Bolton boss feels it is something they must embrace after their form in the second half of last season saw them lose only three of their last 22 games.
He said: “I think it will be tough because now we have that added expectancy. We all wanted to achieve something last year but the realistic ones knew it was difficult because we had just been promoted.
“The way we finished the second half of last season the expectancy will now be huge. We need to embrace that.
“All the messages I am hearing from the players in the team meetings tells me that they know what to expect, they know the standard, and we are excited by it. We haven’t got any right just because we’re Bolton Wanderers, a massive football club.
"It doesn’t mean we can just turn up and it will happen for us. We need to do a lot of hard work if we are going to get promotion and where I believe the club belongs. This is a huge season for us all, myself, the staff, the players, we know we need to make sure we produce.”
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