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Kaiyne Woolery is doing his level best to prove to Neil Lennon that he’s ready, not raw.
Since the young winger opened his senior goalscoring account against Rotherham United last month it is surprising to see he has been granted just six minutes of first-team football since.
Woolery’s rapid rise to Lennon’s line-up has caused the 21-year-old to be championed as a star of the future at the Macron by Whites fans.
But Lennon needs to see some development before heaping too much responsibility on Woolery’s shoulders – frequently describing the former Tamworth man as “raw” and restricting him to short bursts from the bench.
Another star performance for the development squad against Nottingham Forest on Monday night has done little to quell the calls for him to get more involved with the senior set-up.
A goal and an assist for Stephen Dobbie in the 2-1 win provided evidence that he has not sulked with a lack of first-team action. Whether Lennon agrees, or can find a place for him in a fairly structured formation is the big question.
Woolery’s first start for Wanderers came at Wolves on February 2, when a late injury to Gary Madine forced Lennon into a change of plan. He struggled to impose himself against a physical home defence and was brought off for Emile Heskey midway through the second half without registering a shot at goal.
According to statistics supplied by Opta, 21 of Woolery’s 22 touches were outside the penalty box.
He needed only six touches of the ball a few days later against Rotherham – and crucially that did happen inside the area as he followed-up on Mark Davies’s shot to stab home a winner in injury time.
Since then, Woolery got only a brief cameo against Brighton and with Zach Clough now fit again and Liam Feeney in good form, it seems unlikely that he will get a start against Leeds United this weekend.
Woolery is out of contract in the summer and reports suggest he has already had interest from clubs lower down the league who are willing to offer him more first-team exposure.
Michael Appleton, the former Blackburn Rovers boss now in charge at Oxford United, admitted he had approached Wanderers about a loan deal in January but denied stories he had agreed a £300,000 deal to sign him permanently in the summer.
“He’s someone I’ve been aware of since he was at Tamworth,” he said.
“It’s probably a bit mischievous because there was an enquiry before the window shut.
“But with the predicament Bolton find themselves in, it wouldn’t surprise me if it had come from someone up north rather than down here.”
Woolery’s stock is high further down the league pyramid, where he was a late developer in the game, signing for Tamworth at the age of 18 from Maidstone United.
“He has got the talent to go all the way and no disrespect to Bolton but I think he can make another step up,” said the man who signed him, Dale Belford.
"And when he does, Tamworth will get something in terms of a sell-on clause in his contract.
Woolery only moved into senior football at the age of 16 and his first club Redhill also have happy memories of the role they played in launching him towards the Football League.
“Kaiyne was recommended to me by Soccer Elite Academy in Kent,” said Simon Colbran, who was then manager of the club tucked snugly between the M25 and M23.
“He was 16 at the time. I brought him to a couple of training sessions and he was excellent so we put him in the team.
“He started regularly and you could tell straight away he would get somewhere.
“He had to travel a bit to get to us because he came from Maidstone.
“He was one those players who don’t seem to run, they just glide. Things seem to come so easy to them.
“But the truth was he worked. He strengthened up. He was quite a strong lad anyway but he got stronger with every game.
“He was the kind of lad who listened. When you told him something he did it. He was easy to teach.
“Some lads think they know it all. I’m glad to see him doing well. He is a really decent lad.”
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Since the young winger opened his senior goalscoring account against Rotherham United last month it is surprising to see he has been granted just six minutes of first-team football since.
Woolery’s rapid rise to Lennon’s line-up has caused the 21-year-old to be championed as a star of the future at the Macron by Whites fans.
But Lennon needs to see some development before heaping too much responsibility on Woolery’s shoulders – frequently describing the former Tamworth man as “raw” and restricting him to short bursts from the bench.
Another star performance for the development squad against Nottingham Forest on Monday night has done little to quell the calls for him to get more involved with the senior set-up.
A goal and an assist for Stephen Dobbie in the 2-1 win provided evidence that he has not sulked with a lack of first-team action. Whether Lennon agrees, or can find a place for him in a fairly structured formation is the big question.
Woolery’s first start for Wanderers came at Wolves on February 2, when a late injury to Gary Madine forced Lennon into a change of plan. He struggled to impose himself against a physical home defence and was brought off for Emile Heskey midway through the second half without registering a shot at goal.
According to statistics supplied by Opta, 21 of Woolery’s 22 touches were outside the penalty box.
He needed only six touches of the ball a few days later against Rotherham – and crucially that did happen inside the area as he followed-up on Mark Davies’s shot to stab home a winner in injury time.
Since then, Woolery got only a brief cameo against Brighton and with Zach Clough now fit again and Liam Feeney in good form, it seems unlikely that he will get a start against Leeds United this weekend.
Woolery is out of contract in the summer and reports suggest he has already had interest from clubs lower down the league who are willing to offer him more first-team exposure.
Michael Appleton, the former Blackburn Rovers boss now in charge at Oxford United, admitted he had approached Wanderers about a loan deal in January but denied stories he had agreed a £300,000 deal to sign him permanently in the summer.
“He’s someone I’ve been aware of since he was at Tamworth,” he said.
“It’s probably a bit mischievous because there was an enquiry before the window shut.
“But with the predicament Bolton find themselves in, it wouldn’t surprise me if it had come from someone up north rather than down here.”
Woolery’s stock is high further down the league pyramid, where he was a late developer in the game, signing for Tamworth at the age of 18 from Maidstone United.
“He has got the talent to go all the way and no disrespect to Bolton but I think he can make another step up,” said the man who signed him, Dale Belford.
"And when he does, Tamworth will get something in terms of a sell-on clause in his contract.
Woolery only moved into senior football at the age of 16 and his first club Redhill also have happy memories of the role they played in launching him towards the Football League.
“Kaiyne was recommended to me by Soccer Elite Academy in Kent,” said Simon Colbran, who was then manager of the club tucked snugly between the M25 and M23.
“He was 16 at the time. I brought him to a couple of training sessions and he was excellent so we put him in the team.
“He started regularly and you could tell straight away he would get somewhere.
“He had to travel a bit to get to us because he came from Maidstone.
“He was one those players who don’t seem to run, they just glide. Things seem to come so easy to them.
“But the truth was he worked. He strengthened up. He was quite a strong lad anyway but he got stronger with every game.
“He was the kind of lad who listened. When you told him something he did it. He was easy to teach.
“Some lads think they know it all. I’m glad to see him doing well. He is a really decent lad.”
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