Club catch up with frontman as he steps up his rehabilitation following knee injury
Despite Bolton Wanderers’ 2014/15 campaign coming to an end earlier this month, there has been no let-up for young forward Max Clayton as he steps up his recovery from a knee injury.
Now firmly on course to return to first team action, the 20-year-old has spent the last six months on the sidelines after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in a Sky Bet Championship clash with Ipswich Town back in December.
Using the summer months to continue his rehabilitation at Euxton, Clayton voiced his eagerness to make up for lost time next season with bwfc.co.uk as he provided an update on his progress.
“The rehab is going really well,” said the England youth international. “I am outside now running every day and the ball is finally out.
“I am feeling good and in a positive frame of mind. I am working hard every day and feeling more like myself again.
“Things are going to plan. Whenever you get any injury you have to be careful but this one is a delicate one.
“I am in safe hands at Bolton with all the physios and the likes of Mark Leather have been absolutely fantastic with me.
“It is just one of those injuries that you have to take your time with and make sure it is right before you even think about coming back.
“When I come back I want to make the biggest impact I can so I want to be 100 per cent and ready to fire.”
Having joined Wanderers from Crewe Alexandra last September, Clayton was also full of praise for manager Neil Lennon as he revealed how he is finding life at Macron Stadium as well as sharing his hopes for next season.
“I’m really enjoying it here,” said the forward. “It’s a family club and all the fans have been so great with me. I’d say I have settled in really well. The transition has been quite easy and the boys have been fantastic with me.
“The manager has been brilliant with me as well. He took to me literally from day one, really looked after me and filled me with confidence.
“When he put me in the team he gave me license to do what I wanted on the pitch, as long as I got back, put the work in and defended.
“That was brilliant and hopefully my performances showed that I was really enjoying myself.”
Clayton continued: “He’s a really good manager and, with him in from the start next year, I genuinely believe we’re going to be a force.
“I really think we’ll have a strong squad next year. I’m sure that the recruitment will be good this summer, and with the younger lads like Josh, Tom and Cloughie, and myself as well hopefully, pushing on, we’ll have a good mix of younger and older players.
“Zach in particular has done fabulously well. He’s a really good lad and it’s a bit of a shame we never got to play together last season.
“It has been frustrating but hopefully next season we will have a fair few games together and be able to cause some damage for other teams.”