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Wanderers will stick to their guns in the January window – even if it means waiting longer for their intended transfer targets.
Ian Evatt is targeting at least two players to fresh up his squad next month and hopes to get the new players on board in the first fortnight of the window.
But while the Whites boss is in a hurry to bed down new signings and press on with a push for promotion, he has revealed that the timing of the moves depend on other transfers going through.
“We know who we want, we have targeted who we want,” he said. “But obviously we don’t own these players yet so it is down to the parent clubs as to when they leave - but all that said, we are working very hard to get our business done early.
“If we can’t, it is a domino effect and these clubs have to replace players, then we will be patient because we want what we want. It won’t change.
“We are hopeful., though, that we will see a difference in early January to what we have at the moment.”
Wanderers will wait until they have added new signings before sanctioning any sales – with Declan John, Kieran Sadlier and Amadou Bakayoko among the players rumoured to be considering options elsewhere.
Evatt’s side go to Lincoln City on Friday night (January 30) for their final game of the year, with their hosts undefeated at home in the league since April.
The 0-0 draw against Derby was Bolton’s 10th clean sheet of the season, and Evatt has been delighted by the way summer signing Eoin Toal has gelled with Will Aimson and George Johnston in an unfamiliar-looking back line in recent weeks.
“Eoin hasn’t played in anything like that kind of atmosphere (against Derby) and I think he was outstanding,” he said.
“We ask a lot of our defenders, individually, because we are so expansive and attacking at times, we commit bodies forward and they are left one-on-one quite a lot of the time. Athletically, you have to be able to cope with those situations.
“Will had been out for a significant period of time and hadn’t played much football, Eoin is new to all of this and been brilliant since he came in and Jonno keeps getting better and better, so credit to those three.”
Toal, signed from Derry City, has overcome a few minor injury problems to put in some impressive performances in his first taste of English football.
“He is a sponge, Eoin, he wants to learn and take it all in,” Evatt explained. “He doesn’t want to identify as an out-and-out central defender, he wants to progress with the ball and create overloads with the wider players and that is great to see. He will be given the freedom to do that – just because he’s 6ft 5ins doesn’t mean to say you can overlap or underlap and he put a couple of great balls into the box.
“He is improving al the time and he is going to get better and better.”
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