A creative Australian midfielder, still in his teens and learning his trade at a Premier League club is the type of story that local fans crave more than anything. Indeed, all Aussie hopefuls dream of playing in Europe, and in particular, the English top tier. You would have to have some confidence to be in such a position, only to turn down the chance to continue in search of a better opportunity elsewhere.

That is exactly what Sydney-born Aaron Mooy did last year after he had been part of the Bolton academy since he was 15. “Bolton are a big club with a professional environment and when the opportunity to join them first arose, it was an opportunity that I just couldn’t let go,” the 20-year-old Mooy tells Australian FourFourTwo.

While important formative years at a Premier League club could only have assisted Mooy, the blonde creator had already developed an ability well before then which could be fairly described as “un-Australian”. Mooy has excellent close ball control and technical talents. He is a shining example of what we hope to produce moving forward.

“The school I attended, Westfield Sports High in Sydney, was very focused on the technical side of the game. We would spend hours and hours working on our technique.”

When you consider the likes of Harry Kewell, Jason Culina, Mustafa Amini, Alex Brosque, Nathan Burns, David Carney and Michael Beauchamp were also former pupils, you get the impression the NSW establishment is doing something right. These are not just gifted players, but technically proficient stars with international caps to their names (bar 17-year-old Amini, who is surely a future Socceroo).

It was at Westfield Sports High that the Bolton academy director, wise to the school’s pedigree of producing such players, visited and spotted the then 15-year-old Mooy and offered him a trial. After a successful audition, Mooy joined the Bolton youth ranks back in 2006. For four years Mooy would assume a position at the background of the Premier League side, but while he was working under “excellent coaches” in his words, the most important component was missing – first-team football.

“I didn’t really think I had any chance of breaking into the first team,” says Mooy. “I was just in the reserves. I trained with the first team a few times, but not regularly. I needed to go out and find first-team football – that’s what was best for me.”

When Mooy made the decision to walk away from Bolton in July last year, the club was still keen to retain the budding youngster. “They obviously thought I was going to develop into a good player, but I felt if I stayed at Bolton I wouldn’t develop much. I wanted to play first-team football.”

What was to follow would be a testing time for Mooy. Being a club-less, foreign youngster trying to land a job in the ultra competitive European leagues is a tall order. The Young Socceroo regular was not slumming it at the minor lights of European football though. Mooy confirms PSV, Fulham and Galatasaray all took him on trial before a slightly left-field offer came from one of the few locations further north than Bolton.

“It was a tough period when I was trialling at clubs, so when St. Mirren came up, it was an opportunity I didn’t want to let go,” he says.

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