Should we sell Santos?

WANDERERS’ current firm financial footing means they go into the upcoming transfer window in a strong position, says manager Ian Evatt.

With four weeks until clubs are able to do business once again, speculation has already started to spread on whether in-form players like Ricardo Santos could attract interest from higher up the Football League in January.

Evatt is confident, however, that anything other than “silly” bids for his players will rejected in an effort to keep a strong squad together for a promotion push.

“If there’s any interest from elsewhere, I think it will be rebuffed,” he said of Santos. “He’s our player and this club, because of the ownership group, is in a very good financial position.

“We want to keep it that way if we get a bid for any of our players, it will be one where we get to decide the outcome. If we think it’s a silly offer, then we’ll look at it, if we don’t, then we won’t.”

Former Peterborough United man Santos is being increasingly viewed as Bolton’s biggest playing asset, having recovered from a difficult start to the season to become one of the side’s most consistent performers.

Evatt believes the 25-year-old can make progress up the footballing ladder in a Wanderers shirt but needs to prove himself over a much longer period of time.

“I watched him for two years at Barnet and my teams played against him, so I knew all about him and what he was capable of,” he said.

“Having those attributes as a centre back is very rare, especially as a lower league centre back. He’s a good age, an age where he’s still improving and he’s still got lots to learn, but he is receptive to that and he wants to learn, and he wants to improve.

“It took us time to figure him out and what will get the best out of him and all of a sudden, he’s grew in confidence, he’s grew in stature, he’s a leader in the group, which is important and he’s been fantastic but he has to keep going.

“One month does not make a season, two months does not make a season, he needs to put back-to-back-to-back-to-back performances together and put seasons back-to-back together to get where he wants to go and hopefully that is with us.”

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I can't see anyone coming in for him just yet to be honest. He started the season poorly and fair play to him he has improved massively. If someone comes in with silly money then we would sell him i have no doubt.

He has been dominant in recent performances and that has had a knock on effect throughout the team - and for his part he's been given a great opportunity at BWFC  - so it would make no sense whatsoever to part ways now - especially in the middle of an experiment that could take him and us places.
Even if we fall short this season there's something to build on if he has the patience.
I'm disappointed Big Reiss hasn't shown the same level of improvement as Santos as he has the athleticism to be as good if he finds form. And Taft.

What is clear is that although we've enjoyed some nice wins against teams at the bottom, quietly sliding us into the top half it's clear we have to improve to get anywhere and I can't imagine anyone would think that selling Santos now would be improving. But obviously an enormous amount of money (won't happen) and a well-researched recruitment strategy to spend it on could improve things. I'd be surprised and intrigued if the latter happened though.

After today's performance I can't imagine there'll be much interest in him.

lusty one bad day at the office doesn't make him a bad player and let's face it he wasn't alone in being subpar today. I realise it may sound a bit blase but this was just one of those days. I am actually quite heartened by the way we kept going forward and scored three and never stopped until the final whistle. I think you can remember at least as well as I can a time when going two down in the opening ten minutes would have made us fold entirely and the opposition would have bagged six or more with no response or fight from us. It would also have been a massive blow to morale and self confidence in the squad for a long time after which I don't expect to be the case here.

Overall I think we actually can afford to shrug this one off and say it was just one of those days and that Ian and the coaches will have no trouble motivating the players to put it behind them and do much better next time out.

Saw this and thought it belongs in this thread!

Santos ����

We all expected him to dominant physically coming into the season, but what's really impressive is his on the ball ability

Composure

Touch

Vision

Great that the club is stable financially, allowing it to secure its top playing assets long term [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

— BWFC Analysis (@analysis_bwfc) [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]