RUTHLESS, senseless, or couldn’t care less – whatever your view on Wanderers considering the sale of last season’s top scorer Aaron Collins, the same question follows universally: ‘So, what next?’
The previous three men to top Bolton’s league scoring lists have all been sold amid controversy.
Dapo Afolayan’s £500,000 move to St Pauli has resulted in a little more profit due to their promotion to the Bundesliga, but it would be difficult to find someone who thought the initial cost was adequate for a player of his caliber.
Huddersfield Town paid £700,000 in January to bring Northern Ireland player Dion Charles to the John Smiths Stadium, a figure the club had been circulating since the previous summer. In this case, it was not the headline fee that upset fans, but the fact that the only striker signed to fill his void in the squad, Cardiff City’s Kion Etete, crashed and burned with such force that his disastrous loan is unlikely to be forgotten soon.
Charles and Huddersfield’s lack of success in the final months of the season has also helped to alleviate the sorrow of losing a player who had scored 20 goals in each of his previous two years at the Toughsheet Stadium.
Now we get to Collins, who was named player of the year in a season when none of the senior players sparkled, but who could point to a career-high 19 goals in all competitions and argue that he was a qualified success.
In 16 months with Wanderers, the attractive Welshman had delivered some great moments, and his name was rarely far from the supporters’ lips, thanks to a catchy ‘ole, ole’ chant and the fact that he, more than most others, was able to keep himself on the pitch and injury-free.
Collins has swagger and style, and if he and Bolton had won at Wembley Stadium against Oxford United, there could have been an alternate chronology in which his popularity lasted in the Championship, and he could have advanced his case for a Welsh international cap.
But the reality for Bolton is that their entire squad has been found wanting in League One for the guts, fortitude, and street smarts that typically lead to club promotion. Choreographed celebrations and low-slung socks are nice when they are accompanied by results, but as Collins and his striking partner in crime John McAtee discovered last season, they are the types of minutiae that are seized upon during periods of unreliability.
Collins scored only four goals in 18 appearances under Schumacher, while McAtee had five in 19. Neither player appeared particularly well-suited to the number nine role, which harmed their confidence in front of goal.
Talk of a formation change is speculative at this point, but Schumacher’s previous experience with Plymouth at this level suggests there won’t be room for many ‘number 10s’.
And, while Collins’ overall record was respectable last season, it is reasonable to conclude that he did not play his best football under the new manager.
MK Dons have met the’magic’ sum for Collins, which appears to cover the fee Bolton paid to Bristol Rovers in February 2024, with the possibility of add-ons down the way. They have apparently also offered a lucrative salary to accompany that offer, which is enough to persuade the 28-year-old to forsake his plans to score 20 goals in a Bolton shirt next season.
But what will happen next? Steven Schumacher used a four-month trial period to discover vulnerabilities, and he has already moved new acquisition Sam Dalby to the forefront of his attacking plans.
The former Wrexham man is seen as a player who can replace Collins’ goals and is coming off the hottest scoring season of his career at Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership.
Whether money brought in from the Collins deal is instantly placed on a bid for another attacking player is unclear. Bolton have been linked with the likes of Stoke City’s Nial Ennis – a man well known to Schumacher from his Plymouth Argyle days – and Notts County hitman Alassana Jatta, both of whom would command hefty transfer fees. Fans are bound to expect some sort of trade-off, though, hopefully with a happier ending than the aforementioned Etete.
It is evident that Schumacher is looking for a different type of player to help Bolton become a more sturdy and durable proposition next season.
That might mean that more of the guys we’ve grown to view as first-team regulars fall down the pecking order or follow Collins to new pastures.
Leave a Reply