Double swoop would make Bolton Wanderers not Birmingham City promotion favourites: View | OneFootball

The potential signings of Karamoko Dembele and John McAtee would give Bolton Wanderers a massive edge in the promotion race in League One.

Highlights

Birmingham City have already and are expected to continue to spend big in this summer transfer window, following their surprise relegation down to League One last season.

The second city club already possess what they would believe is a Championship squad but are continuing to add genuinely excellent players throughout the team. However, with an inexperienced man at the helm and a very demanding fanbase for the level, they will have to be wary about one or two major competitors – especially with Bolton Wanderers’ recent rumoured interests.

In the last week or so, it has been reported that Bolton Wanderers have made two ‘substantial’ offers for two of League One’s attacking stars from last season.

According to The Bolton News, Wanderers have made an offer to Ligue 1 side, Stade Brest, for the services of Karamoko Dembele, who spent last season on loan at Blackpool. However, they do have competition from Championship sides Derby County, Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday.

As well as Dembele, they are also reported to have made a bid for Luton Town attacker John McAtee, who spent last season on loan at Wanderers’ play-off semi-final opponents Barnsley.

If the Trotters can pull both of these deals off, and continue to pursue Kilmarnock winger Danny Armstrong, then the Whites would surely be put back into the category ahead of big-spending Birmingham City as League One favourites.

The quality of Dembele and McAtee

There is a reason that the two sides who automatically gained promotion, Derby County and Portsmouth, from League One last season, as well as Sheffield Wednesday, are reportedly interested in signing Karamoko Dembele.

The 21-year-old former England and Scotland youth international, who became a professional at 15 after playing for Celtic’s U20 side at the age of just 13, played 39 times for Blackpool in the third-tier last season from an attacking midfield position, occasionally out-wide on the right, and notched eight times in what was effectively his first full season as an out-and-out starter anywhere.

By the end of the season, he had established himself as one of the very brightest attacking talents in the league and, at 21, there is plenty of potential and room for him to grow even more – especially at a club crying out for someone to provide a creative spark.

John McAtee managed 15 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions, including 12 in League One, for Barnsley last season and has been talked about as a promising player for quite some time now – earning a move to then Championship side Luton Town from League Two Grimsby Town in January 2022.

A forward that has the ability to play in a 3-5-2 or potentially even as a winger or more of a creator in a 4-2-3-1 is someone Wanderers are crying out for to support Aaron Collins, and McAtee would provide that as well as a genuine threat in front of goal.

How this changes things for Bolton

As Ian Evatt has already discussed this summer, Bolton will intend to be more tactically flexible throughout this campaign and that could result in the occasional switch in system from the 3-5-2, used exclusively throughout the 2023/24 campaign, to a back four or any formation with wingers in it.

Dembele, as mentioned, was predominantly deployed as a number ten for Blackpool last season, but he has come through his development as a winger, too. This would allow the Whites to play in a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-3, or even a 3-4-1-2.

The flexibility of Dembele is not quite matched by McAtee, but there is certainly an argument to suggest he could develop into a natural number ten, such is his physique and technical ability. In that instance, a 4-2-3-1 would also be a possibility and the potential signing of Armstrong also suggests that to be the case.

Wanderers currently have few, if any, actual out-and-out wingers in their squad, but the likes of Randell Williams, Aaron Collins, Carlos Mendes Gomes and even Dan Nlundulu and Victor Adeboyejo have played out-wide during their careers.

What these rumours indicate would be a potential shift to a system with more width higher up the pitch, rather than relying on wing-backs to do the jobs of out-and-out attackers.

Whatever happens, it would be clear that sticking with the 3-5-2 probably means just two spots available for Dion Charles, Victor Adeboyejo, Klaidi Lolos, Dan Nlundulu, Carlos Mendes Gomes, Aaron Collins, and then the possible arrivals of Karamoko Dembele and John McAtee.

Frankly, that's an embarrassment of riches at Evatt's disposal. Already people are talking up Birmingham as League One favourites as they flex their financial clout after Championship relegation. Yet the Trotters are under the radar with a depth of talent already that could be significantly improved by Dembele and McAtee.

The arrival of that pair, in the eyes of some, should make the Trotters more fancied than the talked about Blues for promotion to the Championship.