Writing is on the wall: Carlos Mendes Gomes situation at Bolton Wanderers under Steven Schumacher | OneFootball

Bolton Wanderers' Carlos Mendes Gomes will fear he is now not a part of Steven Schumacher's plans and could leave this summer.

After what has been an extremely busy summer transfer window at Bolton Wanderers, it is not expected that they are finished just yet, and one player who could join the departure list is Guinea-Bissau international Carlos Mendes Gomes.

Steven Schumacher has embarked upon a bit of a rebuild this summer with several key first-team players let go at the end of their contracts, such as Nathan Baxter, Ricardo Santos and Gethin Jones.

Others, such as Luke Southwood, George Thomason, Klaidi Lolos and Aaron Collins, have all also been sold, as Schumacher changes the profile and personality of his squad, as well as the shape of the team that had spent four and a half years under the management of Ian Evatt.

One of Evatt’s signings that was brought in as one of an almost ridiculous number of attacking midfielders and so-called ‘number tens’, Carlos Mendes Gomes, is another player who could find that Schumacher allows him to leave before the close of the window.

Carlos Mendes Gomes has never got going at Bolton Wanderers

Carlos Mendes Gomes joined Bolton in the summer of 2023 from then-newly-promoted Premier League outfit Luton Town, where he had failed to break in whilst a Championship side.

Instead, having arrived at Kenilworth Road from Morecambe, the former West Didsbury and Chorlton attacker had spent the 2022/23 season out on loan at Fleetwood Town, actually scoring an excellent goal against Bolton in what was a spell chock-full of eye-catching strikes and performances from the former Atlético Madrid academy player.

Evatt is a very cautious coach in terms of his style of football, and bleeding players into his eleven can often be difficult, with opportunities limited due to the lack of actual spots available for attackers in his preferred 3-5-2 system.

That 3-5-2 system didn’t suit Mendes Gomes anyway, but when he did play, he couldn’t necessarily get into the game enough due to the possession-dominant style affording little space for mavericks such as Mendes Gomes to thrive.

This is a system, for example, that saw Bolton opt to sell Dapo Afolayan to St Pauli due to him not fitting in the side, despite the Bundesliga winger clearly being Bolton’s best technical player.

Injuries struck and a call-up to the CAF Africa Cup of Nations also beckoned for Mendes Gomes, and the 2023/24 season was more or less a write-off, especially when he eventually suffered a bad knee injury against Wigan Athletic in February, having finally started to show glimpses of his talent.

The 2024/25 season again saw injuries hamper his involvement, but again some glimpses of quality were shown, and this summer and this season was expected to be a big one for the 26-year-old Senegal-born forward.

Squad dynamics could see Carlos Mendes Gomes leave

Schumacher is playing a 4-2-3-1 system at Bolton this season, and that has seen the former Plymouth Argyle and Stoke City boss bring in Thierry Gale, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Charlie Warren and Ibrahim Cissoko as wide options.

It is clear that Schumacher sees Gale and Cissoko as right-footed options for the left-wing, with Cozier-Duberry and Warren used on the right-hand side.

Szabolcs Schon is expected to depart the club this summer, having failed to make the squad in their opening set of matches, and Schumacher has discussed what he perceives to be a lack of quality from the Hungary international.

Warren is a player that will be expected to be in and around the first-team, but four senior wide options are to be expected, which leaves Mendes Gomes alongside Gale, Cozier-Duberry and Cissoko.

However, with Schumacher wanting inverted wingers, the former Bury midfielder is surely likely to want to bring someone else in to play as a left-footed right-winger ahead of Warren and instead of Schon.

That leaves Mendes Gomes, who started on the left-wing in the opening-day 2-0 defeat to Stockport County, as, presumably, third-choice for that position now behind Gale and Cissoko.

Bolton do not have the financial resources to accommodate three out-and-out first-teamers for one position in the starting eleven, and so a decision will surely now have to be made on the future of Mendes Gomes.

Having joined with a bit of fanfare, it has been a very underwhelming few years for Mendes Gomes, and it would now be no surprise to see him quietly depart the Toughsheet Community Stadium before the end of this summer.

The writing feels very much on the wall.