Neal's pursuit of forward finally pays off
We are delighted to announce that Neal Ardley has added extra firepower to his squad with the signing of former Oldham Athletic forward Dominic Poleon.
The 22-year-old made his name with Leeds United, where he featured 29 times in the Championship, and persistence paid off for the Wimbledon manager, who had tried to sign Dominic on loan previously.
Neal believes that London-raised Dominic, who was with Chelsea as a youngster, will add real pace and power to Wimbledon’s forward options for next season’s English League One campaign.
He is only 22, he is still learning, and we feel he will get better. Speaking about the signing during an interview for Dons Player, Neal Ardley said: “When Dominic was at Leeds and on the fringe of their team a few seasons ago, he was just what we wanted to bring in to help us at a time when we were struggling. We wanted his pace up top and we tried to get Dominic on loan, but we failed because he was a Championship/League 1 player.
Oldham wanted to strike a deal with him, but he is a London boy. We tried to pull on the old heart strings to get him some home cooking back with his Mum! “With losing Ade Azeez, we felt we needed to add pace and power to our front line. I talked with ‘Coxy’ and ‘Bass’ and Dominic was the first name on our lips. We tried to get onto it straight away.
“We are delighted to have him. This is a lad with Championship experience at the age of 20 and League One experience between 21 and 22. We are not taking a punt on an unknown. This is a lad we think we can improve, but he also brings real quality. He is very quick, very powerful and he can play up front in a two, a three, or even wide if we need him too.
“There are a couple of things we want to improve, including his goalscoring and being more consistent. He has played out of position a lot though so you cannot read too much into his goalscoring record. A lot of the games he has not been played in his best positon, which is up front. Similar to last season, we are hoping to have four different strikers who all bring different qualities.”
Dominic, who spent two seasons with Oldham and previously had loan spells with Sheffield United and Bury, spoke of his delight after being offered a new challenge to reignite his career.
“It feels great to join and I am glad it’s over the line,” said Dominic. “I am looking forward to playing some good football here. I met with the manager, had a chat with him, and he sold the club to me. The club has good history, it is on the way up, and I wanted to commit my future here. It was the best decision for me and my family. As a striker, you have to score goals. I feel I need to get back to scoring goals and playing my best football. I am quick, direct, I like to take people on and score goals. I believe that the manager here can get the best out of me.”
with WDON commentator Rob Cornell posing the questions. Neal Ardley also updates us on his transfer plans for the coming weeks ahead of what promises to be an exciting 2016/17 season in League One.Dons PlayerDominic talks more extensively about joining us during an interview on