Now aged 27, he has been a key figure as Bolton have re-established themselves at the right end of League One and his two goals in a 3-0 win at Cheltenham on Saturday took him to 31 in total, from 79 appearances. He scored 23 last season as they reached the play-offs, with Stoke scouts regularly in attendance, and has been open that he wants 25 this time around.

But now TeamTalk suggest that he is on the agenda of Championship clubs including Stoke and Watford, who meet each other at the bet365 Stadium this weekend. Stoke have already beaten Watford in the pursuit of Wesley from Aston Villa but Neil still wants to add to his strike department and has also been linked with Everton’s Tom Cannon.

A relatively late bloomer, he has been marked out as one to watch since switching from winger to centre-forward and this season he has played in a front two alongside Victor Adeboyejo. He started out on the books of Blackpool but dropped into non-league through the early stages of his career.

Neil, who favours a 4-3-3, has sanctioned the sale of Jacob Brown to Luton Town this month and has Wesley, Ryan Mmaee, Andre Vigidal, Chiquinho, Tyrese Campbell and Dwight Gayle in his attack, as well as hot prospects Emre Tezgel and Nathan Lowe.

Bolton have lost loanees keeper James Trafford and right-back Conor Bradley from last season while Bristol City have weighed in with a bid of about £1m for midfielder George Thomason.

Bolton boss Ian Evatt said recently : “There is always room for improvement. Dion scored 20 goals last season but he is hungry for more.

“I still think there are parts of his game that he can polish – in particular, the way he connects and combines with people, his reliability with possession. But he is a threat, he is a handful. I was a centre-back and I certainly wouldn’t want to play against him!”