Having been eliminated from the playoff semi-finals last season, Bolton Wanderers will be hoping to achieve promotion this time around and head coach Ian Evatt has the key.
Northern Ireland international Dion Charles scored 16 goals in League One last season, including six from the penalty spot, ranking him as the competition’s seventh-highest goalscorer.
In fact, it was the 27-year-old’s best goalscoring season since his time with Accrington Stanley where, in the 2020/21 campaign, he bagged 21 goals in all competitions with 19 coming in League One.
The Trotters are one of the favourites to earn promotion to the Championship this term and The Real EFL have even predicted Evatt’s side to finish in second place.
Evatt’s confidence
If Bolton are to continue their upwards trajectory under the former Barrow boss, Charles will need to hit the ground running once more and his manager has all the faith in the world that he will.
Speaking in a recent interview, Evatt heaped praise on the Irishman and believes that there is room for further improvement [via the Belfast Telegraph]:
“I think he can improve on those figures, absolutely. There is always room for improvement.
“Dion scored 20 goals last season but he’s hungry for more. He gets opportunities and we will always back him to take them.
“There are still parts of his game that he can polish. In particular, the way he connects and combines with people. Reliability with possession is another thing, but he’s a handful and a threat to defenders.
Evatt continued on to admit that he would not have liked to come up against Charles during his playing days as a central defender:
“I was a centre-back, and one thing is for sure; I certainly wouldn’t want to play against him.”
Writer’s View
Charles is at a nice age now where he is playing at the top of his game but is not on the decline just yet, leaving some wiggle room for improvement.
Evatt’s assessment of his star number ‘9’ was accurate but realistic, admitting Charles’ struggles with linking play and retaining possession, bringing others into the fold.
The gaffer will undoubtedly be working on these tweaks with the centre-forward during pre-season which could create a more well-rounded Charles capable of hitting new heights and potentially dragging Bolton to the Championship for the first time since 2019.
