WANDERERS have played down the importance of adding to their ranks over the last few weeks and, on paper, their squad exhibits more balance than it has in some time.

For the first transfer window since his arrival two years ago, the Bolton boss had been able to add methodically over the summer with no great turnover.

And when mapped out, Evatt has now established the layered system of proven and developing talent, all recruited to the specific requirements of his playing style.

Football shows little respect for plans, however, and it has taken just a few weeks for confidence to erode – ever so slightly – and leave some fans looking to the final hours before deadline for a deal to ease their concerns.

In defence, Ricardo Santos’s struggle to find top form and fitness has been much discussed. Evatt’s talisman will surely find his way back, but a few high-profile errors have been just enough to fuel a debate about his place in the team, which once looked set in stone.

Behind him, Joel Dixon has also come in for criticism during his forays into the first team as cover for James Trafford. Mistakes against Aston Villa and Crewe rather masked his better work on the evening and leave some calling for Evatt to react in the transfer market.

Few would have predicted that a left wing-back would have been so high on the manager’s shopping list and yet the impending arrival of Liverpool youngster Owen Beck leaves Bolton with three solid choices in that position.

New signing Jack Iredale has been impressive since making the move from Cambridge United, where he has shared game time with Declan John.

Evatt denied that he was seeking to “replace” any senior player in his squad and yet seconds after confirmation of his interest in Beck hit in the internet, a report followed claiming John was ready to look for a new club.

The situation has certainly spiced up what once looked a rather straightforward finish to the summer window, and while Evatt remarked that he could not see any player leaving on Thursday, he will know better than most that situations can change quickly at this time of year.

Wanderers finished pre-season with arguably their strongest front line in recent memory.

Dion Charles had won plenty of admirers since his January move from Accrington Stanley and had ended a mini goalscoring drought on the final day of last season, Amadou Bakayoko and Dapo Afolayan had bettered a dozen goals last term, and experienced pair Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Elias Kachunga offered a different skillset to an attack many felt was good enough to fire the Whites towards the top six.

Once again, public opinion seemed to shift within the space of a month. Though Charles and Bodvarsson had injury problems, the team’s profligacy in front of goal left some supporters calling for reinforcements.

Whether that happens remains to be seen. Evatt has gone on record to say bringing in more strikers could give him problems appeasing those already in the squad. That has not stopped the club being linked with QPR’s Macauley Bonne, who impressed in a spell at Ipswich Town last season.

Wanderers’ imperfect start to the League One season has not necessarily spurred the club into a last-minute shopping spree. Evatt claimed after the televised Carabao Cup game against Villa that he had been approached by representatives of players he never thought the club would be able to afford.

If indeed he is able to ‘level up’ in any position without jeopardising the budget then sentimentality or loyalty to the squad he built from scratch should not come into it.

Deadline Day may not be as frantic as it has been in the past but there is definitely an exciting narrative building where Bolton may find room for some of these exciting prospects.