MARCOS Alonso wants to put his injury problems behind him and prove to Owen Coyle he is much more than a bit-part player with Wanderers .

After a horrendous 12 months that has involved two bouts of surgery on a broken foot, the Spanish full-back insists he is now fit and ready to fire.

Alonso has featured heavily in all four of the Whites’ pre-season games so far and is likely to start tonight’s game at Morecambe, with Sam Ricketts featuring at centre-half to cover the absence of Zat Knight and Tim Ream.

It is a big season for the former Real Madrid youngster, who is also running into the final year of his contract. But Alonso is feeling positive that after failing to string more than three games in a row together for Wanderers in his two years at the Reebok, he is finally in a position to nail down a first-team place.

“I’m confident in myself,” he told The Bolton News . “I’m looking forward to getting involved in the Championship.

“I scored in the first (pre-season) game and I’m feeling really good – I just need the confidence from the gaffer now. I think I can have a really good season this year.”

Alonso missed out on a first- team run last season when a broken metatarsal kept him out from August until mid-December.

At that point, Ricketts was also missing with a ruptured Achilles and Paul Robinson was struggling for consistency. Bad luck struck once again just two games into his return when he limped out of the 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park to undergo more surgery to replace a pin in his foot.

He would not play again until March, and though he scored in another victory over Wolves, he was largely kept out of the side when Wales international Ricketts returned to full fitness.

Alonso is focussing on winning that battle this season and, most importantly, keeping fit enough for selection.

“I am feeling really fit this time and all I can do is keep going and try to play as many games as I can,” he said. “Since I have been here I have only played two or three games in a row, so if I can get the confidence of the gaffer then I can demonstrate I’m a really good player.

“The only thing I have been thinking about this summer is getting back to the Premier League because that is our place.

“Inside the changing room I have always said that Bolton is like a family club. But I want to play more than anything so I can only focus on trying to play every game.”