IAN Evatt admits he is in two minds over whether to hand Jon Dadi Bodvarsson his first Wanderers start against Sunderland this weekend.

The Iceland international made his debut as a second-half substitute in the 1-0 win at Shrewsbury last weekend.

Evatt says the forward looked “razor sharp” in training yesterday but is wary of rushing him into the side too soon.

“I’ve got two parrots on my shoulder,” said the Bolton boss. “One is telling me to look after him and keep him fit and the other is saying, ‘play him’.

“But Jon is an experienced player - he understands his own body.

“He has lacked a lot of football but what you saw in that 25 minutes against Shrewsbury is what he’ll give us, and he looked razor sharp in training yesterday.

“Amadou (Bakayoko) has trained really well this week, Dapo (Afolayan) as well. All of a sudden, we’ve got some serious attacking options that are all going to be vying for two places at the moment.”

Bodvarsson is one of five new signings in the January transfer window, and Evatt is excited by the number of options he has at his disposal.

“We’ve got loads of different strings to our bow now. We can play 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 3-4-3 - and with the players that are going to come in the building, that will give us even more flexibility,” he added.

“The players we have signed are all flexible really. There are lots of players in this squad now who can play in different positions and we can change before or during a game.

“If you guys (journalists) are struggling to pick teams, what are the opposition thinking? All of a sudden, we’re going to be hard to prepare for.

“We’ve got different strings to our bow - we’re not one-trick ponies as I’ve heard many times.

“I’m looking forward to trying to pick the right team and trying to get the best results to give us a strong finish to the season.”


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