Ian Evatt believes the acquisition of Jack Iredale this summer and his ability to play at both in the heart of defence and wing-back has saved Bolton Wanderers having to make two signings in that area this summer with the signing due to play in the latter position later in pre-season.
The 26-year-old is the club's only permanent signing so far this summer. His signature was secured on a three-year deal not long after the last campaign ended and joined Wanderers on a three-year deal on a free transfer from Cambridge United.
Iredale has featured in the club's opening three pre-season friendlies. He has lined up on the left of a back three and has been rotating in the position with George Johnston, who played that role last season.
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Wanderers let Liam Gordon go over the summer, who was the deputy to first choice left-back and wing-back in that part of the pitch Declan John. Evatt has explained the reason why Iredale was recruited is so he can fill both a wing-back and central defensive role.
Iredale is yet to feature as a wing-back for Wanderers, but he certainly will during pre-season at some point. He believes he will offer an alternative to John in certain games in the upcoming season where a more defensive approach is needed in that position.
Evatt said: "That’s the reason we recruited him. We were speaking about Jack and identified him early on last season and monitored the situation and then pushed the button when required.
“At the moment we’re just trying to embed Jack with our identity, but what I will say is that I think he can play wing-back and we will see him play wing-back in pre-season and he’ll get a feel for how that feels and sits and what’s required from that position.
“As we progress now in pre-season he will start to play there and see how he copes with that. The reason we bought Jack is because he gives us some real flexibility of moving from position to position and not losing any real quality.
“He’ll be a different type of wing-back to Declan, but sometimes in this division as we know when you go away from home, you’re going to face different challenges and it might be that we need a more physical and more defensive minded player in that left wing-back position, so Jack is definitely that and not necessarily losing much quality going the other way.”
Another player who has featured at left-wing back for Wanderers in pre-season is Max Conway. The academy product is well thought and has the potential to be in the first team one day, but Evatt believes there is a long way to go before that becomes a reality.
He said: “We have huge belief in Max Conway. We think for a young player he’s got a real chance, we think he’s got a long way to go before he gets to be a first team regular for us, but we see the raw materials there and the potential.
“We want to create and build our own assets and we think Max is one of those.”
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