Steven Schumacher tipped to drop 32-year-old for Bolton Wanderers v West Ham | OneFootball

FLW's Bolton Fan Pundit believes that Gavin Bazunu will now replace Jack Bonham between the sticks for The Trotters.

Bolton Wanderers returned to the Championship this season after a seven-year stint outside of the top two divisions in English football – and they are beginning to realise just how difficult life back in the second-tier is.

The Trotters came close to extinction back in 2019 and were close to expulsion from the EFL, like local rivals Bury, but they have instead managed to rebuild the club both on and off the pitch.

Their long-awaited return to the second-tier was confirmed with a defeat of Stockport County in the League One play-off final in May, and things began well with a 2-1 victory over Preston North End before a hard-fought goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers.

However, defeats to Lincoln City, Sheffield United and Millwall; conceding eight goals in those three games and seven on the road at The Blades and at The Den has left Wanderers fans less optimistic moving forward, especially after key men from last season Johnny Kenny and Amario Cozier-Duberry moved to Preston and Middlesbrough respectively on the final day of the summer transfer window.

The summer window saw Bolton again overhaul their squad in order to remain competitive in the Championship and one key addition towards the close of the market was the signing of former Manchester City goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu for an undisclosed fee from Southampton.

Steven Schumacher now has a big call to make between the sticks as Bazunu pushes for his Wanderers debut ahead of last year’s promotion-winning shot stopper Jack Bonham.

Jack Bonham expected to be replaced by Gavin Bazunu at Bolton

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Having helped Bolton gain promotion to the second-tier with some excellent performances in the play-offs last season, Jack Bonham has received heavy criticism for his performance in their 4-0 loss to Millwall at the weekend.

There is now a question for Schumacher to answer as to whether summer signing Bazunu will now replace Bonham between the sticks against West Ham United; and that is a decision that FLW’s Bolton Fan Pundit Liam O’Meara believes Schumacher will take.

Liam says: “I’d be very surprised if Jack Bonham starts the West Ham game.

“It has felt as though Gavin Bazunu has come in to be the ‘number one’, so this feels a big moment and I would expect him to start.

“In terms of his reputation among Southampton fans, it doesn’t worry me too much, to be honest.

“I don’t think he has had the best opportunities over the last couple of years so I think this represents an opportunity to get his career back on track.

“It is up to him to take it, really.”

Jack Bonham emblematic of Bolton’s inconsistency and limitations

Since the start of last season, Bolton have now signed six goalkeepers, with Teddy Sharman-Lowe, Tyler Miller and Nathan Broome brought in in the summer of 2025; Bonham and David Harrington signed in January and now Bazunu this summer.

Sharman-Lowe’s season-long loan from Chelsea ended prematurely in January with Miller then returning to the United States, while Harrington has recently joined Grimsby Town on an emergency loan deal, too.

Bonham came in from Stoke City with suggestions he was a good shot stopper and that has proved to be the case with some notable saves made in the play-off semi-final second-leg at Valley Parade against Bradford City and then two big saves at 2-1 in Bolton’s 4-1 win against Stockport in the play-off final at Wembley.

In games where Wanderers simplified things to ensure the best case, Bonham showed what he is very good at – and that was again the case with his Man of the Match display earlier this season in the goalless draw at Loftus Road against QPR.

Over the course of the campaign, though, and especially shown at Millwall as well as in the second half of last season, Bonham has struggled with the ball at his feet – best shown by being dispossessed for Millwall’s second goal with the game in the balance late on at 1-0 down in South London.

Bazunu, having come through the academy at Manchester City, has a reputation for being better with the ball at his feet than most but he has struggled badly when it comes to saving shots in the EFL and in the Premier League at Southampton – having the worst save percentage of any goalkeeper in the second-tier last season according to FotMob.

There is an argument that with a simplified backs-to-the-wall game plan against West Ham, that Bolton have impressed with under Schumacher with a 3-1 defeat of EFL points tally record setters Birmingham City in his first few weeks in charge and then those play-offs last year as well as at QPR, Bonham would be the preferred option this midweek.

Longer-term, though, it does feel an inevitability that Bazunu will be brought in to replace him and hopefully begin to realise the potential he once showed that saw City poach him from Shamrock Rovers at the age of 17.