Bolton Wanderers: Ian Evatt “worked extremely hard” for Man United deal and were left disappointed | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers specifically targeted Manchester United youngster Shola Shoretire but after a bright start, he quickly faded at the Whites.

In the January transfer window of 2023, Bolton Wanderers sold star player Dapo Afolayan to then German second-division club St Pauli.

The Trotters’ overarching goal that season was promotion, and they were in the hunt for it at that stage, so required some incoming deals before the end of the month to boost their chances of a top six finish or even pushing towards the top two and an extremely competitive automatic promotion race.

Victor Adeboyejo was brought in from Burton Albion for a fee believed to be the same as what Wanderers sold Afolayan for, as well as bringing in Cameron Jerome on a free transfer from Luton Town, Randell Williams for an undisclosed fee from Hull City and Luke Mbete on loan from Manchester City.

The one really exciting piece of business done to try and replace the creative spark of Afolayan was the arrival of Shola Shoretire on loan from Manchester United – one that Evatt himself seemed personally excited about.

Speaking to the club website after Shoretire's signing, the Bolton boss revealed his high hopes for the loanee and that the club had put in the hard yards to sign him.

He said: “It offers us something different. We need different things to win different football matches, especially when teams are in that low block.

“We need someone that can receive centrally, win a one-v-one duel and create, whether it be a pass or a cross or a finish.

“We feel Shola can do that so I’m very excited to have him here.”

Evatt added: “He’s a player I’ve been aware of an admired for a long time. We’ve worked extremely hard to get him here.

“Getting any young player who is as highly thought of as Shola is and around Manchester United’s first team isn’t going to be easy.

“But Manchester United trust us with what we’re doing and have seen what’s happened with Conor Bradley and James Trafford, for instance.

“We’re delighted to have him and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”

However, after a bright start to his Bolton career and a belief he would surpass what Afolayan brought to the table, things turned out badly very quickly.

Bright start for Shoretire at the Toughsheet

On debut, Shoretire had to play a different role to what he was brought in to do as he played a defensive style as ten-man Bolton, who had Dion Charles mistakenly sent off after 28 minutes, edged past Forest Green Rovers by a goal to nil.

With the full compliment of 11 on the field, the Trotters went to the Valley and defeated Charlton Athletic by two goals to one with Shoretire a brilliant live-wire throughout that match.

After edging past Cheltenham Town by a goal to nil, Wanderers then earned back-to-back 5-0 victories against Peterborough United and Milton Keynes Dons in which Shoretire was sensational in both matches, driving at the Dons’ and Posh defences.

As Bolton progressed through to the final of the EFL Trophy, which they eventually won with a 4-0 battering of eventual League One winners Plymouth Argyle at Wembley Stadium, cup-tied Shoretire was displaced by in-form Elias Kachunga as a result of Kachunga’s performances in the Trophy.

That meant cameo appearances off the bench which didn’t flatter the Manchester United academy graduate and he failed to make much of an impact, despite scoring on the final day of the regular season in a 3-2 win against Bristol Rovers before then not featuring in either play-off semi-final legs against Barnsley at the end of the campaign.

It was a sharp rise and then a sharp downward trajectory through no real fault of his own that he failed to wrestle back from and that eventually led to his departure.

High hopes to a faded reality

Bolton got a taste of what Ian Evatt lauded and coveted but for whatever reason, whether that be a poor management of the player or the player himself unable to lift himself back to his bright start, it was a move that went wrong.

A deal that Evatt said "can make the difference" and a player that Evatt described himself as being "very excited to have" was one that was set to take Bolton to a new level. The Bolton boss even said "we are really lucky to have him" after just a couple of performances.

In reality, the harsh evaluation of that January could be that Bolton sold their stellar attacking creative spark to bring in a loanee that didn’t flourish and, in the end, it cost them promotion to the second-tier.

Shoretire has struggled since his departure from Bolton with a lack of physicality often something said about his time at the club and he is now struggling to get game time, too, albeit at Greek champions PAOK Salonika.

Wanderers have brought in the likes of Carlos Mendes Gomes, Klaidi Lolos, John McAtee and Aaron Collins to offer creativity between midfield and attack and they all offer something unique but the ‘what if’ remains around what could have been with Shoretire.