HIGHLIGHTS
– Jon Dadi Bodvarsson is leaving Bolton Wanderers after two and a half years, having not quite met expectations.
– The Icelandic forward, signed in 2022, initially showed promise but struggled with injuries and form during his tenure with the Trotters.
– Bodvarsson’s performance stats at Bolton were mixed, with goals scored but also significant time missed due to injuries and missed opportunities.Bolton Wanderers will be playing in League One again for the 2024/25 season.The Trotters have been striving to climb out of England’s third division for several seasons, coming closest this year.However, they fell short in the final stretch. With their continued presence in League One, the club has made decisions about some first-team players.Bolton had two players, strikers Jon Dadi Bodvarsson and Cameron Jerome, reaching the end of their contracts.The club announced that both players will leave when their contracts expire, marking the end of Bodvarsson’s time at the club after two and a half years.High hopes accompanied the announcement of his signing, but his period at the club has been rather underwhelming.
Bolton Wanderers signed Jon Dadi Bodvarsson in January 2022
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson started his football career in his home country of Iceland before he joined Viking in Norway.
He spent three years with the Norwegian side, as in 2016 he moved to Germany and signed for 1. FC K’Lautern.
He was with the club for six months, and then he joined Wolves, and it was from there that the striker started his career in England, as he went on to play for Reading FC, Millwall, and Bolton Wanderers.
The 32-year-old wasn’t really prolific in his time at Wolves, but he did improve on that when he joined the Royals and then Millwall.
So, when it came to January 2022 and Bolton confirmed that they had signed the striker on a free transfer from Millwall, there was hope that the Icelandic could be the man to help the club get into the Championship, but it never really worked out like that.
Bolton didn’t see the best of Jon Dadi Bodvarsson
When it was announced that Bolton had signed Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, they knew they weren’t getting a player at his physical peak or in the best form of his life, but there would have been hope he could do very well for them.
The striker spent two and a half seasons with the Trotters, and while he did reasonably well for the club, it could be said that Bolton didn’t get to see the best of the 32-year-old.
In his first six months, Bodvarsson was excellent, as he scored seven goals in 21 League One appearances. But after that period, the forward failed to get to that level again, and injuries took over, meaning that for the majority of the time he was largely unavailable.
| Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s stats at Bolton Wanderers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| Bolton Wanderers | 94 | 25 | 7 |
| Stats as per Transfermarkt | |||
In the 2022/23 season, the Icelandic international played the same number of league games he played in the first six months at the club, as injuries plagued his season as well as the form of the other strikers at the club.
Then in the 2023/24 campaign, Bodvarsson was available for more games, as he played in 36 League One matches, but only 11 came as starts, as he averaged 40 minutes on the pitch per game.
In that time, Bodvarsson scored four goals, averaging one every 359 minutes of football and 0.1 per game. This was a rather poor return, given the forward was averaging a shot a game, and he also missed nine big chances.
All four of the striker’s goals came from inside the box, but as well as the goals, the 32-year-old did contribute in other ways.
Bodvarsson created one big chance for his teammates and collected 0.1 key passes, which helped contribute to his three assists, as per Sofascore.com.
It wasn’t a bad turnaround for a player who hardly started, but given his profile and what he’s done before, while he did score goals, the most he has at any team, it just feels like he joined Bolton when his career was going the other way.
He will be fondly remembered by the Bolton fans, and as said, while he did score goals, it just feels as though he joined the Lancashire side when his career was being hampered more by injuries, and therefore, it meant he didn’t play as much as he could.
If the forward was available more often, he could have been a very impressive addition, especially one that was a free transfer, and it may have meant that he wasn’t being released this summer and, instead, he was signing a new contract and trying to help the club get into the Championship.
Bodvarsson hasn’t had a spectacular career by any stretch of the imagination, but his time at Bolton may just be overshadowed by his absence and the fact the club wasn’t able to achieve their promotion dream to the second tier.
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