Wanderers wish Dapo Afolayan all the best in his future career after completing a move to German club FC St Pauli.
Afolayan joins the Hamburg-based club – which plays in the second tier of German football – for an undisclosed fee to end a successful two-year stay with Wanderers.
The 25-year-old initially joined the Whites on loan from West Ham United at the end of the January, 2021 transfer window after previous loan stints with Oldham Athletic and Mansfield Town.
He played a key role as Ian Evatt led Wanderers up from League Two at the end of that season, with Afolayan scoring his first goal for the club in the 4-1 win at Crawley in May, 2021 which secured automatic promotion.
The attacking wide player scored 14 more times in all competitions last season as Wanderers secured a top-10 finish in League One and the former Solihull Moors man went on to be named the Whites’ Player of the Year.
However, a change of formation and personnel has limited Afolayan’s opportunities this season, with the last of his 13 League One starts coming at Lincoln City at the end of December.
Having signed Randell Williams and Dan Nlundulu this month, Wanderers are also targeting further new arrivals before the end of the January transfer window.
And with Afolayan into the final 18 months of his contract at the University of Bolton Stadium, Wanderers sanctioned the sale to FC St Pauli once a fourth bid from the Bundesliga 2 club met the Whites’ valuation.
Wanderers’ manager Evatt – whose side sits fifth in the table on the back of a six-match unbeaten league run – said: “As a club we’d like to say ‘thank-you’ to Dapo for his contribution during his time here.
“He played a big part in our climb back up the league placings and created a lot of special memories.
“We gave him a platform to forge a successful career in a spell that worked really well for both parties.
“He is an ambitious young man and we wish him well in the next stage of that career in European football, while we continue to evolve and move forward as a team and a club with everything we do geared towards taking this club onwards and upwards.”