IAN Evatt believes a loan opportunity has come up in the Premier League which could give him a chance to add more physicality to his attacking ranks.

The Bolton boss confirmed a long-standing target has become available which would give him extra options up front alongside his existing strikers Aaron Collins, John McAtee and Victor Adeboyejo.

After releasing Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Cameron Jerome in the summer Bolton have lacked for muscle but following the sale of Dion Charles to Huddersfield Town this week, Evatt feels an opportunity may have opened up to bring in a player with a similar skillset.

“We are pretty close to a player we identified in the summer but wasn’t available and has been heavily involved with his Premier League team this season,” he told The Bolton News.

“The decision to sell Dion wasn’t just my decision, not just the board’s decision and not just Dion’s decision, it's a collective that we all got together and felt like this was the right thing for us at this time.

“It does give us some flexibility and a chance to bring in a different type of player and we are working very hard behind the scenes to make sure we can get that type.

“But the one thing I'd say is there's a lot of competition for that and the type that I'm describing is prime Didier Drogba, so we have to understand what's important to us at this time, what option or plan B scenario do we want and then tick those boxes accordingly and recruit accordingly.”

Players under the age of 21 would not count towards the EFL squad cap and Evatt added that one of the main options being considered would be a player in their first loan away from his parent club.

“There's always a risk and reward with these types of loans,” he added. “Generally I don't like taking first loans I think this is too big a club too big a platform to step into as a first loan unless we think that they're exceptional.

“The caveat to that was obviously Conor Bradley, who we knew was exceptional, but with James Trafford it was his second loan, and his first loan (at Accrington) wasn't great.

“Paris Maghoma had been out on loan twice, so it's hard to get first loans to come out of academy football and play in this environment in this pressure and at the size of this football club. It is not for everybody.

“We have to be really selective and make sure that we try and get it right.”

Wanderers have had unsuccessful ‘first loans’ before, including Manchester United’s Shola Shoretire, who left Old Trafford in the summer and is now playing at PAOK Thessaloniki in Greece.

“It can be a shock to the system,” Evatt added. “We saw it ourselves with Shola, who was incredibly highly rated, we thought he would be really well suited to this, and he started great but dipped and probably found it a little bit too much.

“But he's now playing in Europe and in the Greek Premier League most weeks so it doesn't mean to say he wasn't ready for it or wasn't talented enough for it but he came and made his mistakes here.

“This isn't a football club where you can afford to make mistakes or a learning ground or a learning platform this is a football club where you have to hit the ground running if you're a new recruit.

“Again, these conversations are difficult to have and we have to be pretty sure that if we are bringing in a first loan that we think they're capable of doing what we need them to do.”