A Wigan Fan's Guide to Andy Kellett

It was a quiet deadline day for Bolton Wanderers, the search for that elusive striker didn't bear any fruit so now we must rely on the loan window which opens in little under a weeks time.

The only bit of business the club did conduct was selling another player to local rivals Wigan Athletic. Academy graduate Andy Kellett has joined fellow former Whites youth prospect, Sanmi Odelusi, along with Craig Davies, Kevin McNaughton and Jussi Jaaskelainen at the DW Stadium, as the total of former Wanderers in Wigan soared to five.

The Bolton fan opinion on the move has definitely been split, but if you want to know our feelings keep your eyes peeled on LoVS for a reaction over the coming days.

This article is more for the Wigan fans who are looking for some information on their deadline day signing:

Fact File:

Name: Andrew 'Andy' Paul Kellett

D.o.B: 10th November 1993 (21-years old)

Nationality: English

Height: 5ft7"

Position: Left back, left wing back, left winger.

Previous Clubs: Bolton Wanderers: 2002-2015. Plymouth Argyle (Loan): 2014. Manchester United (Loan): 2015.

Senior Career Appearances: 16 games, 1 goal.

Career So Far:

As you are probably aware, Andy Kellet is a graduate of the ever improving Bolton Wanderers academy. He's been at the club since he was nine years old, climbing through all the youth ranks until he was a regular in the impressive under-21 side alongside the much better known likes of Josh Vela, Zach Clough and Tom Walker.

Somewhat surprisingly, Kellett made his first team debut for the Whites well before Clough did and, at one point, seemed a lot more likely to assert himself as a regular in the match day squad over even Vela, who made his debut whilst we were still a Premie League club.

The youngster began to get his chances at the end of the 2013/14 season, the tyrant Dougie Freedman's only full campaign in charge at the Macron Stadium. He made his debut on April 22nd 2014, coming on in the final twenty minutes against Leicester City. He'd go on to make a further two cameo appearances against Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City. He impressed in all three, especially the latter, being deployed on the wing his pace and skill ripped teams apart at times.

He came on against Birmingham on that faithful last day of the season when the Brummies managed to survive the drop, and had two dazzling runs which resulted in him putting two chances on plates for his teammates, but they just couldn't finish Birmingham off.

After impressing so much in his brief outings most Wanderers fans were hoping that he'd kick on in the following campaign and start to be a regular fixture in the side. That never happened and on October 17th 2014 he was loaned to Plymouth Argyle.

He impressed down South, earning rave reviews from the Argyle faithful. He even scored this remarkable goal, the first of his career.

When his loan expired and he returned to the North a new managed was in charge. Neil Lennon had taken over from Freedman and had already given youth players a fair chance in the side, with Vela and Max Clayton already becoming regulars.

Hopes were high for Kellett, after an impressive loan spell in which he'd no doubt improved as a player and now under a manager who wasn't a total dick to the youth team, perhaps we'd finally see him given a go.

We did.

Upon his return he was thrown straight into the starting XI away at Rotherham United. He was playing as a left wing back in a 3-5-2 formation. We were appalling. The game ended 4-2, but our goals were only late consolations and Kellett had been removed just after half time. It wasn't exactly a fair chance and he was by no means the only culprit, but it was a disappointing performance and his last for the Wanderers first team.

After that, in what was the strangest move on the winter transfer deadline day, he joined no other than Manchester United on loan. He went there to provide some depth for the u21s side and he performed well. Helping United win the u21s league. From an attacking left back position he set up a couple of goals with his driving runs.

You can read about his time at United from a regular watched of United's reverse by clicking here.

He returned once more to the Macron this summer and was given a fair chance by Lennon to impress. He joined the first team squad on the pre-season tour of Austria and got some minutes in the friendlies. But he seemingly failed to impress and didn't appear for the first team for the rest of pre-season.

The writing was on the wall for Kellett, and his departure wasn't too much of a surprise.

Positives:

As I mentioned, Kellett is very quick and extremely skilful. He has the ability to beat fullbacks with ease then either get to the byline to play a dangerous ball into the box or drive inside and have a go on goal as well. He's also very versatile, with his pace and energy he's able to play either as a left back, left wing back or even a winger. Which I imagine will come in handy since Wigan are still undecided on what formation they wish to play. The biggest positive of all, is that at 21, he is still young and still may mature into a good player. He has the potential and some of the raw skill, he just needs to obviously continue to improve his game. Wigan may be the place for him to do that.

Negatives:

For Wigan fans, I'd be looking into as to why Lennon is letting Kellett go for next to nothing, as he clearly doesn't rate him, because if he did he would have had gotten a better shot in the first team just like so many others have. At this stage, Lennon has given me little reason to doubt his judgement on a player, so if the man who seems him train everyday doesn't think he's good enough for us then I'd take his word for it. From what I have seen, he doesn't look very good defensively at all. I know I said he can play left back, and he can, but he's very much an attacking focused player. At the back he seems to lose concentration a lot, is weak in the tackle and isn't good positionally.

How I think he'll do at Wigan:

To be completely honest with you, I don't know, it really could go either way. He seems to be in a good footballing environment that are now trying to play youth players a lot more so he may well get a good opportunity, and with Wigan playing in League One it may be more of an easier level for him to adapt to than the Championship. However, I doubt he'll be first choice at Wigan and, as I said, if Lennon doesn't rate him then I do doubt his quality.

It'll be interesting whatever happens and even though it's Wigan, I wish him the best of luck and hope he does fulfil his early potential.

Wigan fans, if you have any questions about Kellett please leave them in the comments below or tweet me @Murbroski.