Bolton Wanderers: Ian Evatt has unearthed key Trotters link with January coup | OneFootball

Long-term transfer target Joel Randall could be the key addition for Bolton Wanderers this month as the Trotters look to propel themselves in 2025.

Bolton Wanderers have signed Peterborough United attacking midfielder Joel Randall and there will be a real belief that he can be an element that has been missing in the first half of this season.

The Trotters spent the summer reportedly chasing the former Exeter City man only for Posh to reject all bids and Randall eventually signed a new deal down at London Road.

However, just over a week into the January transfer window, Wanderers have landed a long-term target that will help them play a range of different systems in the second half of the campaign – and hopefully do so more effectively.

There are an abundance of similar profiles to Randall in the Bolton squad but there are a few key differences that make him a standout option to turn their fortunes around in the second-half of the campaign.

Bolton's change in system

In the summer, Ian Evatt said Bolton needed to recruit to be more tactically flexible and they went about that with the additions of Klaidi Lolos and John McAtee as well as being linked with the likes of Karamoko Dembele and Danny Armstrong.

The idea, as was shown by the early season team selections, as well as a more recent reversion, would be to shift from a flat 3-5-2 shape to something more akin to a 3-4-2-1 with two so-called ‘number tens’ behind the striker.

Randall was a name mentioned throughout the summer but the deal never came to fruition and with Lolos suffering a long-term injury on the opening day of the campaign in a 2-1 win at Leyton Orient, Bolton had to use McAtee and Aaron Collins as those two ‘tens’.

It didn’t really work and hasn’t really worked, despite Evatt’s insistence on it, throughout the campaign but Collins’ recent move to being more central with McAtee joined by Lolos in behind, and the dropping of both Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo, there has been a clear shift and adaptation.

Randall, an actual attacking midfielder rather than something of a second striker, would surely suit that role a lot more and would provide Bolton with a more natural link between midfield and attack – something that has been a key issue this season with disjointed performances a theme.

Ian Evatt's desire for flexibility

The arrival of Randall, as well as the reported links to Stromsgodset attacking midfielder Jonas Therkelsen, would suggest Bolton are planning to stick with the 3-4-2-1 shape but, rather than try and fit square pegs in round holes, actually deploy more natural ‘tens’ in the two behind the striker.

That will allow for John McAtee and Aaron Collins to, whilst having the versatility to play in the two tens, fight for the lone striker role against the aforementioned Adeboyejo – which would also make sense given the potential sale of Charles to Huddersfield Town this month.

Collins has also been able to thrive with goals even in a deeper, more supporting role but playing as a central forward would likelier help McAtee find the net with more regularity in the second-half of the campaign.

Randall will also allow Bolton to shift from the 3-4-2-1 to a proper 3-4-1-2 system as he can be the proper link between midfield and attack – again, something Wanderers have desperately and evidently missed following the end of Paris Maghoma’s loan from Brentford over the summer.

Bolton have been lacklustre in lots of games this season and their best performances have come in desperate ‘throw the kitchen sink’ circumstances but signing a specialist for a key position should allow more fluency through the middle of the pitch and allow for Bolton’s abundance of attacking options to thrive more often.