"Financially viable" - Bolton Wanderers fan pundit offers Jon Dadi-Bodvarsson view | OneFootball

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Bolton Wanderers have made a solid start to this League One season.

They currently sit in sixth in the table and so there is definitely room for improvement, especially when you consider that they are already seven points back from the automatic promotion spots.

Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo are leading the change on the goals front with eight and five respectively in the league.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson meanwhile has played just 8% of the total Bolton minutes with injuries continuing to plague the Icelandic international.

FLW’s Bolton Wanderers fan pundit believes him to be the “second-best striker at the club” but with his current deal set to expire at the end of this campaign after he signed a one-year extension in summer, questions are arising as to his future.

In 2022/23 alone, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson missed 27 games due to injury with the bulk of this being due to ankle surgery that he underwent in January.

He was absent for 120 days of action as a result of that surgery having missed a further 21 days earlier in the season when he injured his hamstring.

The striker has made cameo appearances against the likes of Carlisle United and Stevenage in recent weeks but his general fortunes don’t show any signs of turning around.

Wanderers manager Ian Evatt spoke to Bolton News about the man from Iceland back in August and he made some positive comments in truth.

“Jon is fully fit but the 10 days that he missed – and also we have to remember he was injured in January – so it was a large part of the physical load, not just in games but in training.

“We took the decision while everyone is fit and healthy to maybe give ourselves an insurance policy and give him some extra time and extra fitness work to get him up to speed with the matchday squad.”

Bodvarsson joined Bolton in the January of 2022 from Millwall having also played for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Reading previously as well.

During his stay with the Lions, the 31-year-old managed just seven goals in 76 outings, a record that is most definitely inferior to his 16 goals in 57 games in a Bolton shirt.

Bolton Wanderers fan’s opinion on the future of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson

FLW’s Bolton fan pundit Oliver Jaques is a fan of Bodvarsson but at the same time, has concerns as to if a new contract for the forward is “financially viable” given the injury worries.

He said the following: “With Bodvarsson, it’s one of them where it massively depends on how he progresses this season injury-wise.

“It’s clear he’s got the ability, he’s had moments and spells where he’s been injury free and he’s really shown his ability. For me he’s our second-best striker at the club and we play a front two.

“Provided he can prove his fitness this season and stay away from the treatment room then I would definitely be giving him a new contract but as I say, if he struggles with injuries then we’ve got to look at whether it is financially viable or not to keep him on board.”