Wycombe Wanderers manager Matt Bloomfield insists that new signing Richard Kone will play a ‘big part’ in the club’s long-term future.

The 20-year-old signed his first professional contract with the Chairboys on New Year's Day after roughly five months of negotiations, before he scored on his debut for the Adams Park side in the 2-1 victory over the West Ham United U21s in the EFL Trophy.

He also impressed in pre-season whilst on trial and has been described by some of his teammates as ‘clinical’ in training.

However, Bloomfield has stated that he ‘believes’ in the young Ivorian to succeed, he wants to protect Kone from unnecessary pressure.

He told the press ahead of the Chairboys’ clash against Lincoln City on January 13: “We’ve been after Richard for a long time and it’s been a patient process.

“We’ve been on Zoom with his guardians and agents back in September and he’s been on our radar for a long time.

“He was with us in pre-season and we’ve given him a long contract as we believe in him.

“At the same time, he’s a young player so we need to make sure we protect him in the right manner and use him in the right way as we want him to continue his development.

“We believe in him and he’ll be a big part of our future but as he’s still very young, we don’t want to put too much on his shoulders.”

Whilst Kone is very much the new kid on the block in HP12, he might have had a case of DeJa’Vu when training with the club back in the summer, as it wasn’t the first time he had been with Wycombe.

He initially came on trial during the summer of 2021 but no deal was ever confirmed.

Moves to Shrewsbury Town, Colchester United and Southend United also fell through, before making his name in the Non League scene with Athletic Newham – a side he would score over 100 goals for in just four years.

Bloomfield added: “He came on trial a couple of years ago and it couldn’t get done at that point, Ben Sayers, our analyst, followed him and he tried to get him at Shrewsbury when he was there.

“Colchester and Southend tried to get him too and we made me aware and we managed to get him.

“We’ve got a backroom staff that really about how they do things, which includes trying to find our players.

“Richard has got a back story in terms of how long it has taken him to get here but he’s worth the patience.”