WANDERERS go into a crucial January transfer window knowing they must “move the needle” with the signings they make, says Ian Evatt.

Though the first half of the season has not gone according to plan, it is understood that funds are being made available for the manager to improve his squad this month.

Evatt – publicly backed by the board this week - knows promotion is his ultimate remit and that the changeable form shown in the last few months must improve.

Wanderers will be targeting players who can make an immediate impact, rather than those who must be phased in over time.

“We are pretty clear on what is going to happen, at the moment, but things can change,” he told The Bolton News.

“We have recruitment meetings happening all the time and there are meetings going on with agents and clubs to see how we strengthen the squad.

“Is there going to be huge change? No, but whatever we do in this window has to move the needle.

“It has to make the team better, we are clear on that. It is not about deepening the squad, it is about making the starting XI better.

“That is where our focus is, to make sure the ones we bring in – one, two, three maybe – it makes the XI stronger than what it is at the moment.”

The future of Aaron Morley is one of the big questions to be answered in January, with Bolton possessing an option to call back the midfielder from his loan at Wycombe.

The surprise league leaders – who hosted the Whites last night at Adams Park – are hoping to keep him for the second half of the campaign but indications from the Toughsheet are that Matt Bloomfield’s side will have to pay a handsome fee to retain his services.

Morley, picked up for £75,000 from Rochdale in January 2022, has been in fine form for the Buckinghamshire club but cannot play elsewhere as he also played an hour for Bolton against Mansfield in the League Cup in August.

Evatt was giving little away at his press conference this week but is prepared to bring Morley back into the camp.

“I have made up my mind,” he said. “I will obviously not share that here but we know what we want to do and our options.”

As things stand, Wanderers do not expect to lose any of their first teamers next month, with Evatt insisting his phone has been quiet.

“Normally within football those conversations have already started,” he said. “It is very rare that something will just happen off the cuff and you have only just heard about it.

“Normally you will get whispers or agents phoning me about ‘what price are you thinking’ or ‘what’s the cost of this and that?’ We have had none of that so far.

“I would be amazed if something just came up out of the blue.

“There is still two weeks left before January and anything can happen at any stage but, yeah, at the moment I would be pretty confident we are not going to lose anyone crucial to us.”