Paris Maghoma has thanked Wanderers and Ian Evatt for putting the “fun” back into his football.

The Brentford loanee has hit eight goals this season, one of the most recent of which at Charlton earned him a goal of the month prize.

Maghoma has become a regular starter for Evatt, featuring 41 times so far for the Whites as they look for a way out of League One into the Championship.

And the midfielder, who cut his teeth in professional football with Tottenham before moving to Brentford’s B Team set-up, feels as though the roving role he has been given in the Bolton team this season has brought out something positive that he had not felt in a while.

“I feel like I am getting back to who I was as a youngster, trying to be involved in goals, trying to create things, score, assist, whatever, and it has just been fun,” he told Sky Sports.

“The gaffer has given me license to express myself so he has shown a lot of faith in me and all I can do is be thankful for that.

“Not only him but the whole club in general – the fans, the players.

“In training we are always told to express ourselves, to try things going into a game, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. You have to try and react and do the same thing again.”

Maghoma had been named on the bench by Brentford on half a dozen occasions but has yet to make a senior appearance for the club.

He is contracted to the Premier League side until the summer of 2025 and Evatt has been pleased with the progress he has made at Wanderers.

“Paris is a very good player,” he told The Bolton News. “He knows the areas that we wanted him to improve on when he came here, and I think he has done that. He has listened and worked hard at his game, and I think he is showing signs now of realising his potential.”

This has been the most productive season in front of goal for Maghoma so far in his career and he says playing in a team which has created so many chances has certainly helped.

“I wanted to score more goals this season and this team has helped by supplying those opportunities,” he added.