Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit warns Bolton Wanderers to avoid Aaron Collins transfer scenario | OneFootball

Bolton missed the play-offs for the first time in three seasons last time out.

Bolton Wanderers have the talent in their squad to be a promotion-challenging team in League One.

In the Ian Evatt days, the Trotters showed that they were more than worthy of being one of the best teams in the third tier, reaching the play-offs twice, and, on one of those occasions, reaching the final.

Unfortunately for the boss, things turned sour. He was sacked in January and replaced by Steven Schumacher, who is looking to build a competitive team in his own image this summer.

The former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City head coach openly spoke about his desire to get on with rebuilding this team over the summer. He has already made one key signing by getting striker Sam Dalby to move to the Toughsheet Community Stadium on a four-year deal.

This should be the first of many Bolton transfer actions this summer, but they shouldn't put all their attention on incomings. Wanderers need to make sure that their top players remain at the club beyond the end of the transfer window.

Aaron Collins identified as a must-keep player for Bolton

Aaron Collins has been picked out by Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie as one of those important cogs.

He exclusively told Football League World that Bolton need to hang on to players like Collins if they want to rise up the pyramid.

Collins was bought by the Lancashire club in January 2024 from Bristol Rovers. He scored nine goals for them in his first half-season with Wanderers and bagged a further 12 last term.

"I think Bolton are another football club that should be doing a lot better, they should definitely be in the mix of things," Hendrie claimed. "I think what Ian Evatt did there was brilliant. He's given them a platform to go and build off and one to take forward.

"But if you want to get promoted, if you want to have success, you need to keep hold of big players like Collins, and he is a big player for them."

Getting the best out of Aaron Collins could be Steven Schumacher's key to success with Bolton

The 28-year-old won Bolton's 2024/25 Player of the Season award, and he still believes that he can add more goals to his game. Despite his prowess in front of net, Collins has admitted that he isn't comfortable playing in the number nine role that he has been occasionally deployed in across his year-and-a-half-long Bolton tenure.

A lot of his best work has come from playing off to the left of a proper centre-forward, but he's also not a proper left-winger. It'll be interesting to see how Schumacher uses Collins next season, once he has a squad that he's much happier with, because if he can get the best out of the Welshman then Bolton will have a real good chance of being back up in the top six next term.