Bolton captain Ricardo Santos has clarified that he is not trying to stall talks over a new deal at Wanderers and insists he will sit down in the summer with Ian Evatt to discuss it properly as he focuses on the remainder of the season for now.
The 26-year-old is under contract at Wanderers until the summer of 2023 after putting pen to paper on fresh terms last season.
He has been a standout player for Wanderers in Evatt's time as manager, playing every single game of the club's promotion campaign out of League Two last season.
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt on Plymouth Argyle, transfer talk and Morecambe reflections
He has again impressed this campaign and was installed as Bolton captain following the departure of Antoni Sarcevic in October to Stockport County.
Santos, who joined Wanderers in the summer of 2020, has played 87 games for Bolton so far but not scored yet for Wanderers.
Evatt has revealed he has spoken to Santos about him extending his time at the club as Wanderers seek to keep the defender at Wanderers for the long-term.
Recently, Santos has said that he is focusing on the rest of the season and that he does not want to rush into any decisions, though he stressed that he is happy at Wanderers and does not want that to be misinterpreted that he is stalling on making a choice.
The defender says he will sit down with boss Evatt and his agent in the summer to have proper discussions as he admits he would 'love' to stay and hopes the talks will be positive in the months to come.
He said: “It is still early stages. I think people got confused with what I was saying last time – I wasn’t trying to stall a contract, I just wanted to concentrate and focus on the games I had coming up.
“The next two months is really important for myself and for the club but I know in the summer my agent, me and the gaffer will sit down and talk properly.
“I am happy to be here and honoured to be captain. I would love to stay but we will see how it goes and hopefully it is positive.
"I’ve still got 13 or 14 months left so I’m happy to talk in the summer. What I was saying in that interview was just that I wanted to focus on these games, which are so important.
"My contract situation is the least important thing at the moment because the games and getting in the play-offs is bigger.
"The gaffer said that. My agent is speaking to the gaffer and the club, so it’s still early stages. At the moment we’re just working on these games coming up."
Wanderers are in action tomorrow when they take on Plymouth Argyle at the University of Bolton Stadium.
Bolton are seven points off the top six as things stand with nine games left to go of their season, while the Pilgrims sit in the play-offs as things stand.
Santos knows there is little margin for error in the weeks to come and knows that the Pilgrims will be a tough test but that times have changed since the previous meeting between the two clubs after the business done in the January transfer window.
He said: "We've got to take every game as it is and give it our all, see where we finish.
“We need some consistency if we are going to get there, playing confidently as a team, and enjoy it. We don’t need pressure, just to enjoy the football.
“We know it will take a lot to get to where we want to be and doing that under pressure would be harder. We need to enjoy it and the pressure go.
“At that time I think we were going through a little rough patch. I think now as you can see on the pitch, we’re more together, everyone’s more friendly and we just work as a team now. Before we just weren’t really working as a team and as you can see in the last games we’ve played with the togetherness.
“It will be a tough game, and exciting game, not like the one on Tuesday. They will come out and press. Two teams playing for something, it will be good.
“I don’t think it takes the pressure off. The gaffer wants to win every game so that’s pressure in itself and we’re not really focussing on the league. We’re just taking it game by game and trying to win every game we can.
“Even if we don’t get in the play-offs, we still want to finish as high as possible and work on stuff for next season.”
READ MORE: Bolton Wanderers clarity on Wigan Athletic clash as Portsmouth League One question remains
READ MORE: Derek Adams' claims on Morecambe 'stonewall penalty' and referee decisions 'going Bolton's way'
