Can Bolton Wanderers save best for last in transfer market?

With 45 days remaining in the window, Ian Evatt is roughly halfway through the recruitment drive he hopes will push the Whites from play-off to automatic promotion contenders.

It is fair to say there are some who still need to be convinced. And though the goalkeeping department looks well furnished with the arrival of Nathan Baxter and Joel Coleman, there are other areas of the squad that still look in need of some attention.

Evatt has earmarked “four or five” new players, and while ordinarily fans may be looking forward to an exciting finish to the transfer window, the later the business, the greater the risk that players involved will need time to acclimatise to their new club.

Wanderers experienced issues in January – perhaps the only window where the manager and his recruitment chief Chris Markham’s work could possibly be brought into question.

Though the team did exactly what they set out to do by claiming a top six finish, signings like Victor Adeboyejo, Cameron Jerome and Randell Williams had slower-than-expected starts, Dan Nlundulu experienced fitness issues as he tried to settle and young loanees like Shola Shoretire and Luke Mbete struggled for consistency.

Evatt was confident that his permanent signings would benefit from a full pre-season. Williams, for example, had not played regularly for his previous club Hull City and played catch-up in the final few months of the campaign.

Nlundulu showed enough in his loan spell from Southampton to earn a move, yet he too has been challenged to improve his fitness by the Bolton boss.

The former Saints man had also spent the first six months of the season playing at Cheltenham, whose brand of football differed greatly from the one Evatt prefers to play. And though there were some encouraging signs in his first couple of weeks, a hamstring injury after only his second game at Derby meant he too was chasing for the next couple of months.

Adeboyejo arrived having scored plenty of goals for Burton Albion but – like Nlundulu – playing a very different style of football. He worked hard to get himself going but Evatt was forced to admit that the Nigerian striker needed more tactical work, which could only be done in sufficient quality over the summer. The onus is now on the player to prove his manager right.

After a relatively bright and breezy start to the window, where the likes of Baxter, Coleman, Nlundulu, Josh Dacres-Cogley were signed up in quick time to join the squad on The Algarve for a warm weather training camp, Will Forrester is the only signing to have been announced in the last few weeks, which has given rise to a touch of nervousness across the fanbase.

The public chase of St Mirren midfielder Keanu Baccus ended with Bolton pulling the plug on the deal late on, and the same happened with a move for Bristol City’s Kane Wilson – who subsequently signed for divisional rivals Derby County as part of Jason Knight’s transfer in the opposite direction.

All signs point towards Evatt and Wanderers looking to the Championship and Premier League for their remaining targets.

While free agent Jack Hunt, formerly of Sheffield Wednesday, has been linked, Evatt has talked about moving on from freebies and waiting on the green light on deals from higher up.

Asked whether he thought new signings would be hindered by not travelling to Portugal, or playing in the early pre-season, the Bolton boss unknowingly courted controversy by saying the players he wanted would be of sufficient quality to catch up quickly.

Wanderers continue to recruit to order, using all the data at their disposal to match up targets with the type of football they play and the role they require. The approach should theoretically have enabled them to move on quickly after deals for Baccus and Wilson fell through but, presumably, the next names on the list would require a longer wait.

With many Premier League clubs still exploiting their international audience and touring the globe, some of the names on Evatt’s wanted list may simply be out of reach for the time being.

Others, the manager has hinted, have been holding out for a move to the Championship, with Bolton intending to ensure they are next in line if a relevant offer does not come through.

Whoever they are, or wherever they play, Bolton’s fans will be hoping their club is saving the best for last, and that a run of exciting signings can really help with some momentum as we build towards the big kick-off against Lincoln City.