It seems clear that Bolton Wanderers are going to have to sign a striker in the January transfer window.

Since their return to League One after a single campaign in the fourth-tier last season, goals have been hard to come by for the Trotters.

So far, only winger Dapo Afolayan (seven) has found the net more than five times in the league for Ian Evatt's side, meaning only seven sides have scored fewer goals than Bolton (29) in League One so far this season.

That has conspired to see a promising start to the campaign give way to a run of just two wins in their last 11 league games, with those victories coming against two sides rooted in the third-tier relegation zone, in the form of Crewe and Doncaster.

As a result, Bolton themselves are now 15th in the third-tier standings, just six points clear of the relegation zone, meaning a fresh source of goals could be crucial and it seems they are not far away from bringing someone in to fill that role.

According to The Sun's Alan Nixon, a deal to take striker Dion Charles from Accrington Stanley to Bolton looks set to be one of the first deals completed in the January transfer window, which is now little more than 24 hours away.

With Charles having netted 19 goals in League One for Stanley last season, there is certainly cause for excitement around this deal, although it is hard not to feel that this will also be something of a risk for Bolton.

By the time we get to January, it will have been more than three-and-a-half months since Charles last played a game for Stanley.

The striker has not played since a 2-1 defeat to Sunderland on the 11th September, having been frozen out of the side since then for refusing to sign a new contract with the club.

With that in mind, you feel there will have to be questions about how match fit and how sharp Charles will be when he arrives at Bolton, following that lack of recent match practice.

That could mean that the 26-year-old will struggle to make an immediate impact for the Trotters, potentially setting up their frustrations in front of goal for an extended run.

Indeed, even when Charles was playing for Accrington at the start of this season, the striker was unable to find the net in six league outings at the start of the campaign, which may further raise questions about whether he can replicate his form from last season this time around.

You also have to feel that Bolton should be wary of the contract standoff between Charles and Accrington that has led to this situation.

They will of course, not want to encounter a similar issues themselves, particularly if the 26-year-old becomes an asset they can make a significant profit on, as Stanley looked to have the potential to do back in the summer.

It seems therefore, that while this is a signing that could carry a great deal of importance in the context of Bolton's season, there are still a chance of this backfiring for the Trotters, in more than one way.