"Reluctantly accept £500k-£750k" - Bolton Wanderers told to consider Ricardo Santos bids on one condition | OneFootball

FLW's Bolton Wanderers fan pundit has given his view on the future of captain Ricardo Santos.

This article is part of Football League World’s 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Bolton Wanderers will be hoping to challenge for promotion from League One once again next season.

The Trotters missed out on automatic promotion on the final day of last season, and they suffered further heartbreak as they were beaten 2-0 by Oxford United in the play-off final at Wembley in May.

It was the second time Bolton had been beaten in the play-offs in consecutive seasons, and with another year in the third tier looming, they could be vulnerable to losing some of their key players this summer, such as captain Ricardo Santos.

Santos has made 175 appearances for Wanderers since joining the club from Barnet in the summer of 2020, and while manager Ian Evatt admitted the defender was not at his best in the second half of last season, he remained a crucial part of the team throughout the campaign.

The 29-year-old has one year remaining on his contract at the Toughsheet Community Stadium, and the signing of Chris Forino from Wycombe Wanderers has led to speculation that Santos could be sold this summer - Evatt however has insisted he will not be leaving the club.

"He will challenge everybody, not just Ricardo - all of the defenders," Evatt told The Bolton News.

"That is part of the recruitment policy, we want players who are going to come in and make us better, Chris is one of those.

"The first conversation I had with Chris was that (Forino feels) Ricardo is the best centre half in the league and he (Forino) wants to play with him (Santos).

"All this theory that Ricardo is leaving and Chris is his replacement is simply not true."

Bolton Wanderers fan pundit on Ricardo Santos' future

FLW's Bolton Wanderers fan pundit Oliver Jaques thinks that unless Santos signs a new deal with the Trotters, the club may need to sell him for a fee of between £500,000 and £750,000 - but only in the January transfer window.

"It's a difficult one with Santos, I think ideally you'd be looking at a new contract," Oliver told FLW.

"It probably depends a lot on how this season goes, if we're not looking likely to be in the promotion spots by January time, I think we could see him leave potentially for a fee that we're not happy with, but we will ultimately accept.

"We either needed to offer him a new deal earlier than we have or moved him on because we could have got more money for him.

"In terms of a price, it's quite difficult to say because as you get close to the end of a contract, a player's value decreases. "Ideally, for a player of his physicality and unique skills set as a centre-half, you'd want seven figures.

Ricardo Santos facing uncertain future at Bolton Wanderers

Evatt may have dismissed speculation about a potential exit for Santos this summer, but his long-term future at the club does seem uncertain as he enters the final year of his contract.

While Evatt said that Santos' decline in performance levels in the second half of last season was partly due to the fact he was carrying an injury, he also refused to confirm that the defender would continue to captain the side next term.

Santos has been Bolton's captain since October 2021, so if the armband is taken away from him, that may suggest that Evatt no longer sees him as a regular starter or that his departure is imminent.

If Santos remains in Lancashire, he will be determined to help the Trotters achieve promotion from League One at the fourth attempt next season, and given his importance to the team in recent years, it would be no surprise to see him bounce back from his disappointing campaign.