Max Clayton Injured Again: Time to Cut Our Losses?

So as the BEN reported on Wednesday, Bolton Wanderers' former Crewe Alexandra winger/striker/forward Max Clayton is injured again.

With scary echoes of Stuart Holden, Clayton underwent exploratory surgery on Friday to try and work out why he is suffering from swelling in his knee.

Manager Phil Parkinson said:

"We took Max to see the specialist who operated on his knee and he was pleased, even though there was a bit of swelling. He scanned it, couldn't really see anything wrong with it. But it continued to be a problem so we took him back this week and he said the only thing he can do now is to go back inside and have a look.

We are still hopeful it's nothing serious because nothing showed up on the scan but knees swell up for a reason. The specialist is a little bit more concerned than he was before because he's done very little in the last week but as soon as we took him back on the training pitch it reoccurred."

So yet again the player is unavailable for selection.

Clayton's time at Wanderers has been blighted by injury, with him making only 17 appearances for the club since signing in September 2014 - almost two years ago.

He suffered his first debilitating injury in the December of that year and has barely reappeared since. Last season was a write-off too with a hamstring tear being the cause of his downfall in 2015-16.

So what do we do with him?

We have all seen glimpses of an exciting talent, but they have only been glimpses. Arguments about his best position aside, we can only speculate as to what sort of player Clayton is and might be.

Whilst it's not likely that his wage is a huge drain on resources, we still have someone who appears to be quite injury prone on the books taking up the sort of space that could arguably go to another, more reliable player.

I want to think that Clayton has a future at the club but I can't help but be concerned by the injuries that he has suffered in the two years since he joined Bolton.

What do you think? Let us know below the line.