IAN Evatt has seen enough improvement in Aaron Morley since his return from Wycombe to suggest he can play a big role in Wanderers’ push for promotion.

Speculation has raged over the midfielder’s future, and after scoring a winning goal at Exeter City last weekend even Morley could not tell for certain where he would be playing his football beyond the January window.

Wycombe had a loan offer turned down and were given Bolton’s valuation of a player who had helped them push to the top of the table in the first half of the campaign.

But the Chairboys have not yet progressed with an offer to sign Morley permanently, and impressed by the way the 24-year-old matured at Adams Park, Evatt feels that if he continues in his current vein of form, he canl feature prominently for the Whites from here on in.

Asked if Wycombe had pushed their claim to re-sign Morley in the past week, Evatt confirmed: “Since he has been back we haven’t heard anything. He is our player, we are comfortable with him and we want him to be a part of our team.

“In terms of the loan itself it was a huge success for him personally and for us. We have got him back to where he was 18 months ago at the point where he was one of our most important players. Hopefully he can continue that form for the rest of the season now.”

Morley started just 19 games in league and cup last season and only four times post-January 1, which led to the club’s decision to send him out on loan in the summer.

Evatt also challenged the former Rochdale playmaker to improve the defensive and physical side of his game – and the Wanderers boss has been delighted with the reaction.

“Until you get eyes back on him yourself, you can watch games but it’s a different way of playing and a totally different environment,” he said. “Here (at Bolton) there is huge scrutiny, a fanbase who are very expectant, and you have to be able to cope with all that.

“Having seen him now, he has improved. He has improved himself, maybe the penny dropped a little bit, especially on the out-of-possession scenarios that we had talked about before he left.

“He is looking great and I can’t really pick faults with him at the moment. He’s improving, he’s only 24, and he has got a bright future.

“He has a terrific range of passing and we saw some of that on Saturday where he tried more from deeper, which is where he prefers to play, but then his last pass and cross around the penalty box is deadly at times.

“That is the benefit of loans sometimes. He just wasn’t in that place and space for us. He came back really fit, improved on the things that we’d talked about improving, and he does look a different player now. It is almost like a new signing and we’re pleased to have him.”

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that new Wanderers signing Joel Randall will wear the number 31 shirt this season, and will be in the squad to face Rotherham United this lunchtime (12.30pm kick off).