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Ian Evatt believes Ronan Darcy still has plenty to prove before being a first team regular at Wanderers.
The highly-rated academy midfielder made 22 appearances last season and was rewarded with a new two-year deal in the summer.
But his name was noticeably absent from the team-sheet in Saturday’s 2-1 Carabao Cup opener against Bradford City, leaving the head coach to explain his absence after the final whistle.
“It’s competitive, especially in the middle of the pitch – Brandon Comley, Antoni Sarcevic and Tom White – are excellent players at this level and we brought (Andrew) Tutte in this week for experience,” he told The Bolton News.
“I think we need to be careful in how quickly we progress our younger players.
“Has Ronan Darcy got a bright future? Yes, there’s lots of potential there. But it’s just potential at the moment.
“I think he got thrust into action too soon and that’s an issue. The majority of the players in our squad played a lot of games last season that they probably weren’t ready for.
“On the back of that, there’s probably an expectancy for them to play this season.
“There will be opportunities for them but, the same as everyone else, they have to earn it out on the training pitch.
“Not just Ronan, but when any of the younger players earn it – physically, technically, tactically – he will be picked the same as anyone else.”
Evatt has already sent out Callum King-Harmes and George Thomason on loan and is looking to do the same with a handful of others, including Sonny Graham, Adam Senior and Muhammadu Faal.
He believes the policy will prevent his younger players from ‘stagnating’ on the fringes of his first team, now that there is no development squad following the academy downgrade.
“Some of the younger ones need to have their education with us Monday to Friday and improve but I was a professional footballer for 21 years, I understand when you train and haven’t got a game at the end of the week you can be a bit disillusioned at times. You need to play games, you need to be playing football and get used to the physicality of the men’s game,” he said.
“You need to know the importance of winning on a Saturday, not like academy football where it doesn’t really matter.
“Some of them need to go out and play but we need to send them to the right clubs who look after them, play in the right way and then eventually they are ready to step into our team and hit the ground running.”
Evatt says he is in no rush to get players out on loan, although there could be pressure to adhere to rules on the club’s transfer embargo which have limited their squad numbers in the past.
“There isn’t really a timeframe on it,” he said. “We’ll make the right decision for them – we won’t rush them out of the door and put them into a club that isn’t going to suit, so they get swallowed up and not enjoy themselves.
“We want them to progress and develop the right way.”
Source
The highly-rated academy midfielder made 22 appearances last season and was rewarded with a new two-year deal in the summer.
But his name was noticeably absent from the team-sheet in Saturday’s 2-1 Carabao Cup opener against Bradford City, leaving the head coach to explain his absence after the final whistle.
“It’s competitive, especially in the middle of the pitch – Brandon Comley, Antoni Sarcevic and Tom White – are excellent players at this level and we brought (Andrew) Tutte in this week for experience,” he told The Bolton News.
“I think we need to be careful in how quickly we progress our younger players.
“Has Ronan Darcy got a bright future? Yes, there’s lots of potential there. But it’s just potential at the moment.
“I think he got thrust into action too soon and that’s an issue. The majority of the players in our squad played a lot of games last season that they probably weren’t ready for.
“On the back of that, there’s probably an expectancy for them to play this season.
“There will be opportunities for them but, the same as everyone else, they have to earn it out on the training pitch.
“Not just Ronan, but when any of the younger players earn it – physically, technically, tactically – he will be picked the same as anyone else.”
Evatt has already sent out Callum King-Harmes and George Thomason on loan and is looking to do the same with a handful of others, including Sonny Graham, Adam Senior and Muhammadu Faal.
He believes the policy will prevent his younger players from ‘stagnating’ on the fringes of his first team, now that there is no development squad following the academy downgrade.
“Some of the younger ones need to have their education with us Monday to Friday and improve but I was a professional footballer for 21 years, I understand when you train and haven’t got a game at the end of the week you can be a bit disillusioned at times. You need to play games, you need to be playing football and get used to the physicality of the men’s game,” he said.
“You need to know the importance of winning on a Saturday, not like academy football where it doesn’t really matter.
“Some of them need to go out and play but we need to send them to the right clubs who look after them, play in the right way and then eventually they are ready to step into our team and hit the ground running.”
Evatt says he is in no rush to get players out on loan, although there could be pressure to adhere to rules on the club’s transfer embargo which have limited their squad numbers in the past.
“There isn’t really a timeframe on it,” he said. “We’ll make the right decision for them – we won’t rush them out of the door and put them into a club that isn’t going to suit, so they get swallowed up and not enjoy themselves.
“We want them to progress and develop the right way.”
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