BENIK Afobe comes back to town tomorrow determined to show Wanderers fans he is worth more than just 16 minutes of fame.

But for his stunning quick-fire hat-trick against Tranmere Rovers in a pre-season friendly in 2012, the former Arsenal striker’s time on loan in the North West was undistinguished, to say the very least.

From being dubbed “Obi Wan Afobe” on his arrival from the Emirates, he quickly became more of a phantom menace, hastily ushered out of the door after Dougie Freedman’s arrival as manager.

In total Afobe – then just 18 – managed seven starts in five months with Bolton, most of his cameos coming from the bench. One of his three competitive goals for the Whites actually came in a 2-2 draw at Molineux, albeit one where he was withdrawn as a half-time substitute for David Ngog.

But he arrives back at the Macron Stadium with Wolves tomorrow as a £2million striker in form. Injury-plagued loans spells with Millwall – where he first encountered current boss Kenny Jackett – and Sheffield Wednesday were followed by a goal-laden stint at League One MK Dons.

Already off the mark for Wolves on his debut, Afobe returns to these parts insisting he has no axe to grind.

“It was my first loan in the Championship and it didn’t go as great as I would have liked as I didn’t play as much,” said the striker, now 21.

“I used to play five, 10 minutes here or there and I was playing out of position.

“We were losing most weeks as well and the manager got sacked so it was a bit of a frustrating time for me.

“I was only a teenager at the time so I had to be mentally strong.

“But I learned a lot from it and it showed me football can’t always go your way.

“I’ve had a few unlucky times with injuries and unlucky loans but I still see it as a blessing.

“I haven’t got a bad word to say about Bolton as a club.

"The people there when I was there helped me a lot.”

To put into context the gloom in which Afobe spent his brief Wanderers career, his other two goals for the club came in defeats at Crawley Town and Peterborough United.

He maintains contact with some of the Wanderers dressing room, including his school mate Samni Odelusi, who was an unused substitute for Lennon’s men at Rotherham United on Tuesday night and could now be heading out on loan to Coventry City.

“There’s a few players there I’m still friendly with – Darren Pratley, Adam Bogdan, Matt Mills, Jay Spearing and Rob Hall, who I played with at England,” he said

“It will be fantastic if we can beat them and I can get one over on them.

“I’ll go there tomorrow wanting to win and wanting to do the best for this club.

“I want to score in every game, not just the fact we’re playing Bolton, I want to score.

“Even if we were playing a non-league team or against the best team in the world, I’d want to score goals.”

Such was his mediocre spell at Wanderers, a few eyebrows were raised in these parts when Wolves shelled out £2m to Arsenal to take him on board full-time a couple of weeks ago.

Having spent so long flitting between clubs on a temporary basis, Afobe suddenly had a transfer fee to substantiate at Molineux, and made the perfect start as he netted a 90th-minute goal in a 2-0 win against Blackpool a fortnight ago.

But the youngster insists the weight of expectation is not a worry to him as he looks to fire Jackett’s side closer to the play-offs tomorrow.

“The manager’s never put me under pressure, my team-mates didn’t put me under pressure and my family definitely didn’t put me under pressure – they just said go and enjoy it.

“It was a good feeling but that’s what I’ve been brought in to do, score as many goals as I can or to create as many goals as I can.

“I’m expected to score whenever I play. You have to go into a game with that mindset or there’s no point in playing.

“There’s no point in playing if you don’t think you’re going to score goals as a striker.

“I did expect to score. Every game I play, I expect to score and I want to score, so it was no different to me.

“I’ve scored a few goals already this season so it was just another one on the list and hopefully I can get more.”