VICTOR Adeboyejo’s seemingly ever-present smile has not always reflected how things have gone on the pitch for him at Bolton Wanderers since becoming the club’s most costly signing in a decade.

Questions have been asked of the striker, who arrived from Burton in January with 13 goals to his name but could add just three more for his new club as he tried to settle, surrounded by higher expectations.

He had been converted to an out-and-out number nine for the first time in his career at the Brewers, which spurred his most prolific scoring streak. But since heading to Bolton he has found it difficult to shake off doubters who feel that spell was somehow an anomaly.

Adeboyejo is happy to front up the sceptics, however, and like so many good front men, feeds on the potential of proving them wrong.

He talks stony-faced about expanding his learning under Ian Evatt and becoming a player better equipped to play at a higher level but flashes one of those winning grins when it comes to discussing the critics.

“Those doubts are just fuel,” he told The Bolton News, fresh from opening his account for the season with a header against Lincoln City last weekend. “Coming here was a massive step for me, some of my heroes played here.

“There is a big fanbase, a lot of people, a lot of pressure, and it was never going to be easy stepping in and expecting it all to go smoothly. But I know what I am capable of doing, I know my qualities. It’s me against me.

“Last season was good, but I want to show people that I can score goals for a team of this magnitude.

“Everyone is entitled to their points, it’s an opinion-based game, but they just make me want to go out there and show people what I can do.”

There is no brave face. The studious Adeboyejo has dug deep into his game with Evatt and the coaching staff over the summer to analyse where he can improve, concentrating on more efficient movement in the penalty box, less wasted energy.

Bolton’s possession-based game is a world away from the direct football he played at Burton, the gaps behind opposition defences a much rarer commodity.

And the physical demands placed on the strikers by Evatt, whose mantra on defending from the front helped keep 26 clean sheets in all competitions last season, is another aspect to which Adeboyejo has had to adjust.

Last weekend’s goal against Lincoln has eased the pressure, a little, but he knows eyes will be on him on a regular basis.

“There’s no sob story,” he said. “At the end of the day, when a chance comes you have got to be there to take it.

“It is difficult, we do keep the ball more, teams do sit back a bit more against Bolton, there isn’t the space to do a bit of this and that.

“I have had to adapt. Me and the gaffer speak regularly and a lot of the stuff he is coaching at the moment isn’t just for this level, it is for the next one as well.

“You are either going to break or you are going to grow. And there is obviously going to be a period of learning and understanding where you are trying to take it all in. Those periods can be painful as well but once you do get it then you are ready not just to play football in League One but the level above, or the level above that. And that is where my head is at, I want to keep developing into that Championship or Premier League striker.

“But I am not someone who hides behind excuses. I will hold myself accountable when I am accountable for a situation and I praise myself when I do the right thing. That is what I will keep doing and I think it will stand me in good stead.”

Faith plays a part in every footballer’s life, if only in terms of the relationship between manager and player. In that sense, Evatt has talked openly about Adeboyejo’s “point to prove” and how he is confident the former Arsenal trainee can become a reliable source of goals for Bolton.

Self-confidence is another key factor – and the striker seems capable of looking introspectively at how he manages the pressures and hopes of 20,000-plus people each week, alongside the tag of being the most expensive cash purchase Wanderers have made in the transfer market since Jay Spearing a decade ago.

The Nigerian also has religion on his side. A devoted Christian, he is able to fall back on his own faith in difficult times and put things into better context.

“That is why I am always smiling – my confidence isn’t necessarily on what happens on the pitch, it’s is what God has done for me and how far he has brought me,” he said.

“There is stuff that has happened in my life that has brought me to this point, playing for Bolton Wanderers, and that is all credit to what God has done, so I can’t look around at what other people are saying and feel fear. That isn’t what Christ has told me to do.

“I am happy and confident because I know he has got me.”

Adeboyejo sounds happier and looks leaner than he did walking off the pitch at his old club Barnsley in May, a game where Bolton’s lack of attacking bite had cost them a return to Wembley in the play-offs.

Wanderers got straight back down to business in League One and go to Cheltenham Town on Saturday afternoon seeking to make it three wins on the spin.

Adeboyejo scored a winner for Burton against the Robins last season and feels there is confidence coursing through the squad in their first away day of the campaign.

“You want to get into the habit of winning and we started that in pre-season,” he said. “There is still stuff as a team we want to get cleaner on, better at, but whenever you are winning it is a good indication you are going in the right direction so we want to maintain that.

“It is a tough challenge and we know what we are going to come up against there, the low block, and we will have to break that down. Respect to them and how hard they work but for us, we just have to replicate what we have been doing.”

Asked of the potential for another winning goal? The smile returns again.

“That is why you play the game – not just because of the legends before but to emulate and go to make your own stories, to go ahead. I can’t put too much pressure on myself but I want to keep developing and fighting, that’s my goal.”