Zach Clough signs new contract with Bolton Wanderers

Following his heroics on Saturday Bolton Wanderers have moved quickly to extend the contract of Zach Clough until 2017.

The young forward making his first start for the club stole the show against Wigan Athletic with the winning goal and an excellent all around performance. The blow of losing Chung-Yong Lee to the Asia cup will be softened considerably if Clough can continue to play at such a level.

Clough has been a regular now for the past few seasons in the under 21's and has played a number of different roles both up front and out wide. However, it seems to be that playing as an advanced midfielder is were Clough's future will lie. His ability to glide past opposing players and intelligent use of the ball was a problem for Wigan all afternoon.

It's amazing to think Dougie Freedman was selling the fans stories that these young players were not ready for first team football, Josh Vela, Max Clayton and now Clough have shown him up. Neil Lennon certainly knows a player when he sees one and using a bit of imagination has managed to fit them into a system that has far worked. Clough looks to have grasped his opportunity to become one of the few academy graduates to make an impact in the Bolton first team.

It remains to be seen if Clough can continue to produce performances as polished and as confident as Saturday but we may  have a real gem of player on our hands and we can look forward to watching him play in a white shirt for at least the next two seasons.