The fact that the Northern Ireland international has only started one of the last five League One games has fueled rumors among the supporters that the Whites may be thinking about selling him.
Evatt, however, stated in an interview with The Bolton News that he had no desire to lose the 29-year-old this month. The player has scored 20 goals in each of his previous two seasons with the team.
Although Aaron Collins and John McAtee have gained ground in the selection process, Evatt maintains that rumors of Charles’s departure are completely unfounded due to the team’s busy January schedule in both the league and the cup.
“Dion is a member of our squad, team, and player,” he stated. “I don’t think that will change. Every player has a value, and regardless of who they are, we will always take them seriously if they fulfill it.
“But in my opinion, Dion should concentrate on returning to his previous standards from a year ago.
It’s been a few months since we last saw his best, in my opinion. We want him to return because we know what he can do; he is an amazing player who has scored many goals for us and many goals at this level. We have seen it in flashes and glimpses, but not consistently.
“But we have a really good squad and nobody is guaranteed anything.
“John and Aaron have struck up a pretty decent relationship and we have got Dion and Victor waiting for their opportunity. They will get them because we have six more games this month, and it is down to them now to see whether they can keep that shirt.”
As he recovered from a knee ailment that he first sustained in January of last year and that worsened during his summer international duty with Northern Ireland, Charles missed a significant portion of the preseason.
Evatt claims that the striker’s fitness is no longer a concern. He has scored eight goals this season, with his most recent goal occurring in the 3-1 victory over Mansfield on December 3.
“The knee is fine, but I agree that it stopped momentum,” he remarked.
Last year, when we needed him the most and he wasn’t fully recovered, he performed an amazing job of playing through the pain barrier.
He then had to get his knee fixed, which caused him to miss some preseason play. This might cause you to lose steam at the beginning of the season, which is what has happened to him somewhat.
“That does not imply that we have a worse opinion of him, that we are done with him, or that we are removing him from our lives.
We have a strong group of players, and it can be beneficial to distribute the load occasionally. Dion needs to exercise patience and wait for his chance, which I believe he will seize.
