David Davis:?Loan deals made me mature

Wolves midfielder David Davis today insisted every player should go out on loan to 'man up' for first-team football.

Yesterday, fellow home-grown Molineux academy graduate Johnny Gorman joined League Two Plymouth on a youth loan until January 6.

The Northern Ireland international winger followed team-mate Jake Cassidy, who has rejoined League One Tranmere, and Leigh Griffiths, who has returned to Hibernian, while more could follow as the club look to find the right platform for its youngsters to develop.

Smethwick-born Davis, 21, made the rise from the lower leagues to the Premier League last spring when he was recalled from Chesterfield to play for Wolves in the top flight after previous spells with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Walsall, Shrewsbury and Darlington.

He's now in Stale Solbakken's first-team squad and he believes his loans were vital in helping him grow up on and off the field.

"In my opinion, everyone who's 18 should go on loan – whether it's League Two or the Conference – because it makes you grow up," said Davis, who has played over 60 games on loan.

"My loan spells were really important to my development.

"In reserve football, you're playing against people of the same age so it's similar to Under-18s.

"People's livelihoods are on the line in the first team so there's more to play for.

"You need that match experience and that 'Saturday feeling' and I think anyone who's 18 and over, and not in the first team, should go on loan and play as many times as they can.

"Unless you're a really special talent at that age, you're not going to walk into a first team because you need game experience.

"Playing those games and being on loan made me mature as a person."

Davis credits his stint in the Scottish Highlands as the time that made most impact on him.

"The Inverness one in particular made me grow up because I wasn't coming home for a month or two at a time and I realised what football is about," he said.

"Being away at such a young age, it was a good period for me and one which I felt I needed to become the person I am."