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Dennis Politic can thrive if Wanderers choose to build their team around him in the future, says youth coach Nicky Spooner.
As Bolton prepare to hear whether their season in League One will continue, one of the success stories of the last 12 months should be available whenever competitive football resumes.
Academy graduate Politic is one of only half a dozen Bolton players contracted to 2021.
The youngster has progressed well in his first full season in the senior ranks, having spent some of last year on loan at Salford City.
And Spooner, who coached him at Under-18s level, believes his former charge can play a major part for the club in the future.
“It’s scary when it is about him,” he told The Bolton News. “He’s one of the best kids we’ve had talent-wise.
“I think you can see he’s still learning at first team level. He’ll make mistakes – I think there was one at Lincoln, for example – but then I’d say ‘look at what he can create.’
“He’s getting stronger, he’s learning not to expend silly energy doing things that won’t benefit the team, and he’s capable of winning a game on his own at times.
“If he plays the game right and gets more time on the pitch in the future, he can do anything he wants.”
Wanderers picked up Politic – then a “little skinny kid” – on trial at the age of 14.
He worked with Gavin McCann, Spooner and then David Lee before making his Bolton first team debut at the start of this season at Wycombe.
Since then he has played 30 games and scored five goals, signing a contract extension back in January to keep him with the club for the next two years.
Spooner admits the only troubles he had coaching Politic was trying to wrestle him off the pitch.
“He’s one of those kids we literally had to drag off in training – he was a pain in the backside,” he told The Bolton News. “We were worried he’d pick up injuries because of over-use.
“We’d be doing shooting or free-kicks and had to regulate how many he was doing at the end of the session because you’d look out of the window and the little bleeder was still striking balls about.
“We were trying to stop him getting hurt because we knew he was destined for the first team.”
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As Bolton prepare to hear whether their season in League One will continue, one of the success stories of the last 12 months should be available whenever competitive football resumes.
Academy graduate Politic is one of only half a dozen Bolton players contracted to 2021.
The youngster has progressed well in his first full season in the senior ranks, having spent some of last year on loan at Salford City.
And Spooner, who coached him at Under-18s level, believes his former charge can play a major part for the club in the future.
“It’s scary when it is about him,” he told The Bolton News. “He’s one of the best kids we’ve had talent-wise.
“I think you can see he’s still learning at first team level. He’ll make mistakes – I think there was one at Lincoln, for example – but then I’d say ‘look at what he can create.’
“He’s getting stronger, he’s learning not to expend silly energy doing things that won’t benefit the team, and he’s capable of winning a game on his own at times.
“If he plays the game right and gets more time on the pitch in the future, he can do anything he wants.”
Wanderers picked up Politic – then a “little skinny kid” – on trial at the age of 14.
He worked with Gavin McCann, Spooner and then David Lee before making his Bolton first team debut at the start of this season at Wycombe.
Since then he has played 30 games and scored five goals, signing a contract extension back in January to keep him with the club for the next two years.
Spooner admits the only troubles he had coaching Politic was trying to wrestle him off the pitch.
“He’s one of those kids we literally had to drag off in training – he was a pain in the backside,” he told The Bolton News. “We were worried he’d pick up injuries because of over-use.
“We’d be doing shooting or free-kicks and had to regulate how many he was doing at the end of the session because you’d look out of the window and the little bleeder was still striking balls about.
“We were trying to stop him getting hurt because we knew he was destined for the first team.”
Source