JOSH Vela wants Wanderers to aim for the top next season – with him in the thick of the action.

After answering Neil Lennon’s emergency call at full-back last term, the academy graduate is aiming to establish himself in his more natural midfield position this time around.

Furthermore, the 21-year-old believes some of his fit-again team-mates can brighten the gloom around the Macron Stadium and mount a challenge for a top six spot – confounding the bookmakers who currently predict a relegation scrap.

Speaking to The Bolton News, Vela insists there is reason for optimism.

“I’m really looking forward to next season,” he said. “The aim for me is to get a big pre-season under my belt and try to get in midfield, if I can.

“For the team I think we should be aiming for the play-offs, promotion if we can.

“We’ve got the players. Mark Davies is one of the best players in the Championship. Max Clayton will be back, Zach Clough will be back, we should have a good team.

“Players look forward to new signings, it freshens the team up. There’s lot to look forward to.”

Vela now has another string to his bow, having worked in the back four for most of the 32 appearances he made last season.

And he would have no qualms about helping out his manager again as a defender if the situation called for him to do so .

“I trained hard in the right-back position and it worked out,” he said. “People like David Wheater and Matt Mills were a big help because they’ve played the game for a long time now and they gave me a few pointers.

“If centre-mid is full now I feel like I can play right-back, or wing-back, so it was good for me.”

Vela found his groove last season after nearly leaving the club because of the lack of opportunities given to him under Dougie Freedman.

And the youngster feels at home with the style of football Lennon has brought to the club.

“It’s more like passing the ball, it suits me. He wants us to express ourselves more, enjoy the game and attack more,” he said.

“We go out to win every game. Whether it’s any different to the way the previous manager played the game, I don’t know, because I never played did I? A few games and that was it."

With the spotlight falling on Wanderers' academy this week, it should be remembered that Vela is one of the real success stories to have come all the way through the club’s system.

Raised in Weaste, the former Hope High pupil admits education was not high on his list of priorities once Wanderers had spotted his talents playing for Swinton Park Boys as a seven-year-old.

A risky strategy maybe but such was Vela’s talent at a young age that it had got people talking long before Owen Coyle handed him a Premier League debut at Swansea just over three years ago, bringing with it even more onus to succeed.

“There was a lot of pressure on me,” he said. “Most of my mates are not footballers, obviously, I’m the only one.

“When I was a kid the only thing I ever thought about was football. I didn’t really think about school.

“I got my scholarship at 14, so once I got that I concentrated on football and nothing else.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t got through.

“There was a lot of talk about me maybe coming through and playing for the first team but when it finally arrived, it was massive for me.

“Playing in the Premier League at Sunderland was a massive step. I’d been on for a little bit in the Swansea game but at the Stadium of Light I was on for 25 minutes, then the Tottenham game was on Sky. It was a big experience.

“I was buzzing about playing but the team got relegated, it was weird. But at the time I thought I’d probably get more games in the Championship but that never happened.”

Vela had been linked with a £1million move to Liverpool, passed off by the youngster as “rumours” but it was at Anfield where his finest hour in a Bolton shirt would materialise last season.

Up against Phillipe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Jordan Henderson and Co, the midfielder summed up the steel shown by Lennon’s side that day on Merseyside as they forced the FA Cup tie into a replay.

“That made it all worthwhile for me,” he said, “not just the game but the build up as well.

“It was a great week. We’d beaten Sheffield Wednesday and then we turned straight round and it was Liverpool. It was all about the occasion.

“The result we got there was unbelievable.

“All my mates came over, it was a great occasion.”

It was also a proud moment for the Vela family, the youngster admitted.

“They still come and see me every game,” he said. “My dad comes everywhere watching me.

“He works at Mercedes – spends Friday and Saturday travelling round. I owe him a lot.”