Marlon Fossey is determined to make the most of his loan spell at Bolton Wanderers as he seeks to prove himself in senior football.
The talented American defender has seen his emergence at Craven Cottage derailed by a succession of serious injuries and jumped at the chance to play in League One after impressing for Steve Wigley’s under 23s this season.
Bolton boss Ian Evatt hinted that there might be the possibility of a permanent deal should Fossey’s loan spell be a success. The Jersey born right back told the Bolton News:
“I have been at Fulham half my life, so I am grateful for the player they made me. It’s a great club and I am a better person and player for having played there. I have met a lot of great staff and a lot of great players through the years so I am grateful for everything.
But, ultimately, I want to be playing first team football on a regular basis and at this moment in time Bolton are offering and providing me that. We will see what happens. I will try and keep my focus on the short term, and I am all focussed on Bolton at the moment, so that’s where I stand,
Fossey is in contention to make his home debut against Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday after impressing in Bolton’s 1-0 Football League Trophy defeat at Hartlepool just 24 hours after completing his switch to Lancashire. He feels the time was right to leave under-23 football behind and hopes that the injury woes, that also disrupted his only previous League One experience with Shrewsbury last season, are also a thing of the past.
“Youth team is good up to a certain age but definitely not my age. I probably wouldn’t say I’m a ‘young’ young player now, I’m starting to get into that middle rift, so I need to be starting to establish myself in the men’s football arena and hopefully this is the first steps to that. The quicker tempo was definitely something that I had to get used to after playing youth football for many years. It is a lot less intense because you don’t have players competing and vying from pay check to pay check to make sure their bills are paid.
You are playing with kids that are sort of guaranteed to stay in their position for years to come, so the tempo, the intensity, the physicality was all a reality check that I think I did get used to it. I had started playing on my feet towards by the middle of my time at Shrewsbury but unfortunately I had an injury that stopped me from progressing with them, but I learned a lot, for sure. Now I’m hungry to take this opportunity and I’ll do all I can on the training field and even off the field to show this team what I’m about and hopefully help this team and we’ll see how it goes. I’m looking forward to it.”
