Bolton will release five players and have told Conor Wilkinson he is free to find a new club
Liam Trotter is the biggest name out of Bolton’s first round of departures this summer.
He, Reece Wabara, Tom Walker, Lewis Buxton and Will Jaaskelainen will all leave the club on expiration of their contracts next month, while Conor Wilkinson has been told he can go, despite a year remaining on his contract.
There won’t be too much grumbling over those departures. Trotter isn’t the worst player to don a Wanderers shirt but has never really held down a first team place. Lewis Buxton was injured early in the campaign and hasn’t featured since. Reece Wabara was a short term signing when bodies were low on the ground, but Filipe Morais ended up making the right-back position his own with the change to a three at the back, with wing-backs.
Walker and Jaaskelainen’s departures are a little sad, as it’s always a shame to see an academy product leave, but Walker was loaned out to Bury for the last season, and seemed not to be able to make the grade with us. Jaaskelainen would have been fifth choice goalkeeper with Ben Amos returning (you would expect one of him, Mark Howard or Ben Alnwick to move in the summer).
It’s probably time to cut our losses on Conor Wilkinson too. League One might have been an opportunity for him to make an impact, but his starts away to Scunthorpe and Sheffield United saw two ineffective performances. He certainly won’t be good enough for the Championship.
Other talks are planned over the next few weeks.