Bolton Wanderers vice-captain Gethin Jones believes the Whites squad looks 'really strong' ahead of the new season and mentioned keeping the quality they already had as well as the acquisitions made this summer.
Wanderers have made four signings this transfer window ahead of the new League One campaign. Goalkeeper James Trafford has returned on loan from Manchester City, while defender Conor Bradley has signed up for the season from Liverpool.
In terms of permanent arrivals, defender Jack Iredale has arrived on a three-year deal on a free transfer from Cambridge United. Recently, defender Eoin Toal joined from Derry City for an undisclosed fee.
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But as much as bringing in bodies this summer to help augment the squad and prepare it for a promotion charge this season, it has been about keeping hold of the talent Wanderers already had at the club. Captain Ricardo Santos and attacker Dapo Afolayan are huge examples of this.
Santos put pen to paper on a brand new three-year contract at the club this summer, while Afolayan has two years left to run on his deal and was the club's top scorer last season with 14 goals. The pair have been looked at by clubs in the Championship in the past, with Afolayan also reported to be a target for Scottish giants Rangers this summer.
Ian Evatt has spoken in the past that he would expect Wanderers to be tested by other clubs for the duo. He admits there have been conversations with clubs this summer over the pair, with Santos even admitting he had other options before he commited his future to Wanderers.
But the message has always been a consistent one - that any potential suitors will need 'deep pockets' and pay what Wanderers deem the likes of Santos and Afolayan to be worth. Earlier this summer, Evatt pointed to retaining the duo as evidence that Wanderers clearly mean business when it comes to keeping hold of their best players.
Wanderers vice-captain Jones spoke of Wanderers keeping hold of both Afolayan and Santos this summer, the latter he referred to as being a 'cheat code' owing to his abilities. He believes the summer arrivals added to retaining their best assets means Wanderers can carry on with the momentum they built up in the second half of last season as they target the upper echelons of League One this campaign.
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Jones said: "There was a lot of injuries midway through the season and obviously now when you look at our squad compared to what it was like when we first began in League One, there's squad depth and the squad is so strong now.
"You could see from the last eight to 10 games of last season the squad was getting rotated every game, fresh legs. We've been able to keep Rico (Santos) the skipper who is massive for us.
"We always say he's like a cheat code. We've kept Dapo and we've obviously strengthened again, so the squad looks really strong and that was one of the main reasons that we couldn't really get into the play-off spots towards the end, but we were all proud of how we finished the season and hopefully we can take it on to this year.
"The ambition is to get promotion, no matter how we do it, through play-offs or automatics would be unbelievable. It was our aim last year, even though we only just got promoted from League Two.
"We had a little sticky patch midway through the season but I think the way we finished the season was really strong. Hopefully we can take that momentum into this season.
"We had a meeting in the first week out in Portugal on how we want to play, how we want to go about this season and everyone was talking about promotion straight away. It's really good that everyone is onboard and everyone knows what we want to achieve this year."
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