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Amadou Bakayoko is not being shown the door at Bolton Wanderers, insists Ian Evatt.
Salford City are among the clubs to have made bids for the striker in the last few weeks but Bolton say they have not met their valuation.
The Sierra Leone international is out of contract in the summer and has started just five games in League One this season.
But Evatt says his exit is not a fait accompli, and that Bakayoko has indicated he wants to fight for his place even with the impending arrival of Dan Nlundulu from Southampton.
“His attitude has been first class,” Evatt said of the 27-year-old, who scored 13 times in all competitions last season. “He has very much been head-down, I want to do the best I can for Bolton Wanderers.
“We are not actively looking to remove Bakayoko from the squad, I am not looking to let him go.
“He has worked really hard to get into the team and that’s his ambition.
“If we get an offer that we deem is acceptable, knowing that at the moment he is out of contract in the summer, or there is something he wants to look at and move to, then we will take each case and evaluate it.
“But for now he is concentrating on getting results for us, nothing more.”
Will Aimson and Eoin Toal have shown recently that it is possible to capitalise on an opportunity but Evatt says he only hands chances out on merit and does not have “favourites” within the squad “The pecking order is the pecking order – it only exists for one game. It matters how you perform when you are given an opportunity or how you affect the game when you come off the bench, which then translates to the next game,” he said.
“There is no agenda, there is nothing personal. Everyone thinks I have favourites, I gather that, it’s always the way – but I don’t.
“I view them all as my children and I try to treat them the same way. I have twins at home and that is hard enough to keep it even. I try to do it with the squad as well.
“Fans are always going to say you have favourites, and why someone is playing over someone else, but that is just the nature of football. Everyone has an opinion, it is subjective, and I am never going to please everyone.
“I pick what I see on the training ground and in matches and/or what we are facing on a matchday for the opposition, no agenda.”
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