Opinion: Bolton Wanderers should keep hold of 24-year-old this summer if they fail to go up

After initially moving to Bolton Wanderers on loan in February last year, Bolton signed Oladapo Afolayan a permanent signing in the summer.

He has been an important player for Ian Evatt’s side this year making 37 league appearances and scoring 11 goals making him the club’s top scorer.

Bolton currently sit 11th in League One and also 11 points from the play-offs making the challenge a big one for Evatt’s side and one that is starting to look less achievable.

Given his strong form in League One this season, it wouldn’t be a shock to see a Championship side come in and try and claim Afolayan this summer especially if Bolton fail to gain promotion.

The 24-year-old is under contract with Bolton until 2024 so thankfully there’s no pressure for them to sell him but even if a good bid was to come in for the player, it would be in Bolton’s best interests to keep hold of him fo next season.

After large overhauls of players in the recent transfer windows, Evatt has already expressed his desire to keep his recruitment small this summer with the only additions being necessary ones that can add something to his side.

If Bolton were to lose their top scorer, that would surely throw a spanner in the works in this sense as they would be looking to replace him but the options would likely be poorer than what they had meaning they’d either need to replace him with two strikers to play together or rely on goals from elsewhere on the pitch.

Furthermore, even if Bolton don’t go up this season they have had a really impressive season and played entertaining football throughout.

As the season has progressed, Wanderers have done well at finding their feet in the league and combine football that’s nice to watch with results.

Now we can see