Ian Evatt admits Bolton Wanderers have not been able to get every number one target so far this summer transfer window as he gave an update from the club's Portugal training camp.
Wanderers are out on the Algarve for a week of pre-season preparations ahead of the new League One campaign. No friendly games are taking place while in Portugal, so the trip is designed to gets th squad's fitness up to speed and for team bonding.
A fairly complete first team squad has travelled to Portugal. James Trafford is absent as he has been given some time off due to his recent involvement with England's under-21s.
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Trafford returning on loan is one of two acquisitions made this summer. The other has been the permanent signing of defender Jack Iredale on a free transfer from Cambridge United.
It has been slow progress this summer for Wanderers on the transfer front compared to previous summer windows. There have been players the club has missed out on, including Marlon Fossey who Wanderers moved on from pursuing owing to interest from the Championship in the Fulham defender.
Evatt has addressed the club's current position in the transfer market and admitted that the club's success in the January window meant that there was never going to be the same amount of business done as on previous occasions. Another key piece of business done has been skipper Ricardo Santos signing a new three-year deal.
And Evatt has vowed that Wanderers will always walk away from deals if the value for a player is higher than what they deem. Though some signings have not materialised, he has advocated patience this summer with further reinforcements.
Evatt said: “We signed heavily in January, so there was never going to be that huge amount of maintenance we had to do in previous transfer windows. We are improving all the time and it has been a gradual process.
"Yes, Jack is the only player we have signed from a different club but we have Traff returning, Rico – who is as important as any signing, renegotiating his contract. Have we got every number one target in other positions? No. But that is the reality of football.
“I have said many times, we are never going to try and out-spend our rivals or put the club into risk or doubt any more. We value every player we look at and if the valuation increases beyond where it should be then we will walk away from deals.
“I am never going to put this club at risk because it is not how we do things. We are smart, strategic, and we are going to be patient in this window.
“We had all our ducks in a row and we thought we were going to get who we wanted but things change in football and we have to be able to adapt and overcome.”
Evatt was speaking from the club's pre-season training base on the Algarve at a location which is not being publicly disclosed. It kicks off the first week of training since the players reported back for duty last Friday.
And the Bolton boss knows he and his squad are fortunate to be able to have a trip such as this to build up their fitness ahead of the new campaign. He is grateful to the club's board for making it happen and believes they will reap the benefits of it.
He said: “I think it is important that the players get taken out of their comfort zones. It is good for me to have them 24-seven in the first week of pre-season, no distraction. We can get lots of work into them.
“Players have been having three or four sessions a day. It is intense and hard work but they are together and there is a culture created, which comes from what we did last season.
“It is important that we get as much work into them as physically possible and then come back to hit the ground running with the friendlies. That was always the plan.
“We are really fortunate that we have the support of the board and are able to come to such a fantastic place as this. It is immaculate, and I was fortunate to come here as a player before and everything from the food to the pitches, the gym, the hotel itself, is first class. It is something we are really enjoying doing.
“We are really respectful of it – and many of us have been at clubs where we have been taken away before and we have seen the benefits of it.
“But some of the lads have never been on anything like this before, so for them to come and see that we are investing in them as a group and a team, and I think we will really reap the rewards.”
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