New boy Will Dawes‘ journey to Yeovil Town bears similarities to Tom Knowles when he first arrived at Huish Park, manager Chris Hargreaves has said.
The winger joined for an undisclosed five-figure fee from Stratford Town at the start of the month having been training at Huish Park for a period before his arrival was announced.
Speaking to our man Ben Barrett on Thursday, Hargreaves said: “Will is training hard, but there is a jump (from playing at Stratford) and we are aware of that.
“There will be a bedding in process of two or three weeks to bed him in to that intensity of training every day with this group.
“But he has huge potential, very similar to Tom Knowles when he came to the club, with that untapped potential that we need to focus on when we bring players to the club.”
The 22-year-old featured in every match for Stratford, who play in the Southern League Premier Division Central, two tiers below the National League, this season.
Knowles had made four first-team appearances for Cambridge United in League Two alongside a number of loan spells at non-League clubs before arriving at Yeovil in November 2020. He made his debut the day after arriving in a 3-1 home defeat to Eastleigh, but spent much of the next month as a substitute before cementing his place in the team later in the campaign.
Hargreaves suggested he sees Dawes as a player who can be developed in to a saleable asset in a similar fashion to Knowles, who was sold to League Two Walsall on the eve of the new season.
He said: “We are having to balance that desire to do something with some sustainability.
“Will will not be the last player through the door who needs bedding in and developing, but we also need experience lads who will produce week in and out.“