Bolton Wanderers recruiting EFL “maverick” backfired disappointingly: View | OneFootball

At the start of February 2021, Bolton Wanderers were 18th in League Two and very much involved in a relegation battle as they looked to avoid dropping into non-league football for the first time in their long history.

However, an impressive January transfer window allowed the Trotters to propel themselves from the depths of the third tier to the top three and the automatic promotion spots in League Two by the end of the campaign.

In that window, they added the likes of Kieran Lee, Declan John, Dapo Afolayan, and MJ Williams, all whom would go on to be key men in League One, as well as the likes of Lukas Jensen, Ben Jackson and Zach Elbouzedi.

There was one exciting transfer that really got fans to take notice of the business being done by Bolton, though, and that was the arrival of Marcus Maddison on loan from Charlton Athletic.

It would end up being a disappointment for all parties, however.

‘Maverick’ Maddison

The aforementioned Lee, John, Williams, and especially Afolayan, who went and joined St Pauli a couple of years later and could well be a Bundesliga player next season, went on and established themselves as key men for the Whites for a couple of years.

However, it was the arrival of Maddison that Ian Evatt publicly bigger up – suggesting, he was one that would "excite" the fans but admitting he was a "maverick".

Evatt’s style of football has a tendency to be a little too controlled as a result of its possession-dominant and fairly complex, sophisticated patterns of play not often leading to very fast, instinctive attacks. Maddison, therefore, was to be the ‘mala leche’ (bad milk) that Hristo Stoichkov was supposed to offer Johann Cruyff’s Barcelona.

Maddison, who Evatt had described as a "good fit", was sent off on his debut against Morecambe in a decision that was eventually later overturned but it was a warning perhaps of what would be to come.

No room for uncertainty

The former Peterborough United and Hull City attacker, who had been a wanted man in the Championship less than 12 months before his arrival back in the fourth tier, managed just ten appearances for Bolton with four starts as they marched towards automatic promotion.

Averaging 1.5 shots per game in those appearances, he failed to register a goal or an assist. Only one other man averaged over 0.7 shots per game for Bolton that season without a goal or an assist and that was centre-back George Taft, who managed a solitary appearance for the Whites in League Two that season.

It was clear that his ‘maverick’ tendencies really didn’t suit the way in which Bolton wanted to play and Evatt, who had described Maddison as an "excellent player" would have to move him to one side.

That came in April 2022 when his loan deal was cut short and he was sent back to Charlton. The 30-year-old finished that season playing for Spalding United in the Northern Premier League before a short stint at Darlington in 2022.