Brentford’s Paris Maghoma enjoyed a magnificent campaign on loan at Bolton Wanderers in League One last season, winning the Trotters’ Young Player of the Year award.

After forcing his way into Wanderers’ starting XI in October, Maghoma became a fulcrum in the side, arguably establishing himself as Ian Evatt’s most important player as the club missed out on automatic promotion by a whisker before losing to Oxford United in the League One play-off final.

Initially regarded as more of a holding, box-to-box midfielder alongside Josh Sheehan and George Thomason in Bolton’s engine room, Maghoma’s ability to create and drive forward with and without the ball became abundantly clear as he emerged as one of the Whites’ key goal threats.

With an ability to strike the ball cleanly - after smart darts into the box, carrying the ball or even from outside the area – Maghoma developed from a midfielder who had shown flashes at AFC Wimbledon and MK Dons in the 2022/23 campaign into one of the best players in the third tier in the 2023/24 season.

The former England youth international, now 23, thrived in Bolton’s possession-based system (they enjoyed 59 per cent of the ball on average in the league) which placed an onus on Maghoma showing attacking intent - and he delivered with nine goals and six assists across all competitions.

Maghoma managed one key pass per game for Bolton in a team that sought to wear opposition defences down but, despite taking risks, he still had an 82.4 per cent pass completion rate – only bettered by Player of the Year Sheehan and captain Ricardo Santos among Bolton players with 300+ minutes.

The midfielder was comfortably Wanderers’ best dribbler too, completing 1.2 take-ons per match; only 13 players in the entire division managed more and he really was Evatt’s ‘line-breaker’.

However, it would be foolish to discuss the attacking capabilities of Maghoma as though he will develop into a so-called no.10 because his all-round game is so much more than that.

With tenacity in the tackle (he averaged one per game as well as 0.4 interceptions per game in his ‘free role’) and great physicality, Maghoma showcased numerous other qualities that are less easily measured: his awareness of when to release the ball and when to fill in defensively displaying a maturity beyond his years.

Fresh from signing his new deal back at Brentford, Maghoma’s challenge now is to break into the Bees’ senior set-up and show Thomas Frank exactly what type of midfielder he can become.

Maghoma’s ceiling is sky high - let’s see if he can reach it!