Jed Wallace says he has learned from the first tough spell of his senior career and is ready to show what he is made of at Wolves next season.
An injury picked up last pre-season, and then illness, hampered the midfielder’s efforts to make an immediate impact after joining from Portsmouth, and when action was limited on his return Wallace joined Millwall on loan.
An impressive spell with the Lions followed, and then Wallace enjoyed several promising appearances back in Wolves’ colours at the end of the season.
“It was a frustrating season for me,” says Wallace.
“There were a couple of difficult things off the pitch in terms of injuries and illness which caused me to lose a lot of weight last season.
“I worked hard to put that back on and get my power and my strength and my pace back which is a big part of my game with my running.
“I went to Millwall and that maybe saved my season – it gave me a lot of confidence and bridged the gap from Portsmouth to Wolves.
“I had a good time there and then broke in here against Burnley and thought I’d done myself justice.
“Then I had to come off and thought that was typical of my Wolves career so far.
“I came back and got three or four games in at full fitness so hopefully the fans saw the real side of me and what I was wanting to bring when I signed.
“Now I am looking forward to carrying on from there and trying to make an impression on the starting eleven, which I plan to do this season.
“When I am enjoying my football I play my best and I am looking forward to doing that this season at a club where I have made a lot of good friends.
“Hopefully it is going to be a successful time.”
And Wallace is confident the experiences of last season – before which his career had progressed significantly with Pompey – will enable him to push on again during 2016/17.
“My career since I started playing regularly from 18 has been an upward curve,” he says.
“Last year was probably the first time I was really up against something with the injury in pre-season and then being at a new club, your confidence can be knocked.
“That is the first time it has happened in my career but I learned a lot from it and won’t let it happen again.
“Sometimes in football you can get a bit safe and try not to do something bad rather than take a risk to do something good.
“I learned from that experience and I will be playing as well as I was at the end of the season this year, and being in that starting eleven as much as I can.
“As a player I know what I can do and what I can’t do
“I feel like I am more than capable of making an impact here, now even more so than I did 18 months ago.
“I want to make an impact this season.
“By my standards I don’t think I made much of an impact last season and so I need to do better this season.
“As an attacking player I want to be getting people off their seats when I’m on the ball and I want to be causing problems.
“I fully back myself to do that and I am looking forward to showing the gaffer, the fans and my team-mates what I can do.”
