‘Magic’ – Bolton boss Evatt raves about West Ham loanee Afolayan
Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt has lavished praise on West Ham loan star Oladapo Afolayan after the 22-year-old made his debut for the League Two side.
Afolayan joined Bolton on deadline-day just a week after scoring on his Irons debut in a 4-0 FA Cup thrashing of Doncaster Rovers.
He made his first outing for The Trotters as a second-half substitute against Morecambe on Tuesday but events quickly turned sour as Marcus Maddison’s red card eventually told as The Shrimps battled back to level the game 1-1 and deny a debut win for Afolayan.
However as reported by Bolton News Evatt praised the Irons loanee, saying: “Dapo is magic, a talented boy.
“You saw glimpses but it’s a shame we didn’t see them in full flow, really, Madders and Dapo, because they were brought on to win us the game, to extend the lead and kill the game off, and they combined quite quickly for the chance that was saved.
Afolayan will be hoping to make his first Wanderers start against Stevenage on Saturday.
Moyes mistake?
High praise from Ofalyan’s manager who has only seen him up and close for just over a week.
Evatt was an ever-present in Blackpool’s sole season in the Premier League during the 2010/11 campaign and certainly knows what quality looks like and his early appraisal of the Irons loanee bodes well.
His progress will be of even more intrigue to Hammers fans after the latest striker struggles at the London Stadium with Michail Antonio left out of the squad that played Manchester United on Tuesday over fatigue fears.
Andriy Yarmolenko deputised but offered very little at Old Trafford before suffering a knee injury that saw him replaced by 18-year-old Ademipo Odubeko before the hour mark.
The youngster struggled before being substituted himself in extra-time and it places greater scrutiny on Moyes’ decision to allow Afolayan to leave.
Could the Irons have benefitted from keeping hold of him as a potential back-up option?
He was impressive for the U-23s this season as he scored five times in 11 Premier League 2 appearances with four of these goals coming as a centre-forward [transfermarkt].
Afolayan has more experience in first-team football than Odubeko and will have been buoyed by his debut goal against Doncaster so we think Moyes could be left ruing his decision if these injuries keep on piling up.
In other West Ham news, see our exclusive interview with Frank McAvennie on what disappointed him the most v Manchester United.