Basham is raring to play catch-up (From Leigh Journal)

Basham is raring to play catch-up

9:50am Thursday 8th July 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

CHRIS Basham is in a rush to make up for lost time.

The Wanderers midfielder was on the fringe of the first-team before damaging knee ligaments in a reserve team game against Manchester City in February and was forced to sit out the rest of the campaign.

It was a far cry from the season before when the former McDonald’s worker burst onto the scene, making his first three starts against Arsenal, Manchester United and Blackburn and scoring his first goal against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

But, after his frustrating spell on the sidelines, Basham is eager to put last season’s disappointment behind him and hit the ground running.

“I want to better what I did last season,” he said. “I got off to a decent start but after Christmas time – when I picked up my injury – it didn’t really happen.

“That’s why I want to get off to a flying start this time round.”

Basham, who turns 22 later this month, has enjoyed returning to training – especially under Owen Coyle’s football-first approach.

He said: “Every player knows that pre-season is very important and that’s why everyone is giving it their best shot because we want to try and better what we achieved last season.

“But everyone is doing it with a smile on their faces too and the sessions have been fun, partly because we have been doing work with the ball as well. We are footballers not just runners so it’s good to work on our touch, playing small-sided games too.”

Wanderers, meanwhile, will receive compensation if Aaron Mooy joins another top-flight club in Europe.

The Australian playmaker has severed his ties with Bolton after rejecting a new contract at the end of last season.

Although he had yet to appear for the first team, Wanderers had high hopes for the 19-year-old, who joined in 2007 and was called into the Socceroos squad for their friendly with Republic of Ireland last August.

But Mooy, a regular for the reserves last season, has turned down the opportunity to stay at the Reebok and is now on the hunt for another club on the continent.

“They (Bolton) offered me a contract but I wasn’t really happy with it,” said the midfielder. “I didn’t see myself breaking into the first team any time soon, so I’m going to take a risk and try somewhere else.

“I’m going to trial for a few clubs in Holland, Italy and Germany.

“Everyone’s been saying in Holland it’s a good way to learn because everyone over there passes the ball around, it’s not like everything’s about results like in England.

“They try to teach the youngsters how to play. In England it’s more, it doesn’t matter how you play as long as you get the results.”

Wanderers will be disappointed to lose a player of Mooy’s ability, though he was far from the finished article and had a tendency to drift in and out of games.

Reserve team manager, John Henry, said: “He was an undoubted talent and I was looking forward to working with him.

“The manager made him a good offer but he has decided not to take it. That’s his prerogative.”

Wanderers’ home game with Manchester United, to be shown live on ESPN, has been moved to Sunday, September 26 at 12noon.