Dapo Afolayan on how West Ham United experiences helped him deal with Bolton Wanderers rotation

Dapo Afolayan believes his experiences at West Ham United have helped him cope with rotation at Bolton Wanderers and not starting regularly recently.

The 25-year-old has been at Wanderers since January 2021. The attacker was initially at Wanderers on loan from the Hammers.

A successful loan spell was converted into a permanent move last summer. He became the club's top scorer last season with 14 goals in all competitions.

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In League One, Afolayan has started only one of the club's last six games, having instead to make do with appearances off the bench or being an unused susbstitute. The attacker scored the winning goal in the club's last League One game against Peterborough United.

Afolayan believes rotation is part and parcel of being a footballer in the modern game. It becomes all the more important to take chances when granted opportunities.

Afolayan had to bide his time at West Ham, waiting until January 2021 to make his Hammers debut after joining the club's under-23s from non-league Solihull Moors. His time at the London Stadium has helped reinforce that opportunities must be taken when presented.

He said: “It is part and parcel. We are professional footballers and we have to be professional. When it is your time you have to try and take your chance.

“Yes, there is disappointment when you are not in the team. Football is a short career and sometimes when you are on the bench you can feel like it is wasted time, it can be hard. But I know if you keep working hard, things normally work out for you.

“Five or six years ago I was paying to play football, so this is a blessing. At West Ham I waited for an