Just twelve months ago, Marc Bola was facing a tough season. His early potential as an Arsenal youngster hadn't been realised and he was released by the Gunners.

He had two loan spells away from the Emirates and eventually left without making an appearance. It could have been the start of a slippery slope out of professional football, but his move to Blackpool turned out to be a masterstroke.

He's now a target for Championship side Brentford after a number of eye-catching displays on the left hand side of the Tangerines defence.

Is he good enough to make the step back up after just one season? We shine our spotlight on him to find out.

Before we even look at the stats it's worth remembering that he was at a club in turmoil last season. For a large part of the campaign, home fans stayed away in protest at Owen Oyston's involvement and at times the future looked uncertain. They may be on track now, but Bola's performances came in spite of the turbulent political state behind the scenes.

Their finish in tenth place was impressive, but Bola's outings on the left hand side of their defence were equally as good. He may have come from a top class academy but he slotted into senior football with relative ease, improving every week.

He played 35 times and showed a wide range of skills during that time. For instance, he won 66.1% of his defensive duels. That's a strong number and shows him to have been a committed and successful full back. Making challenges is one thing; winning more than half is another completely.

He reads the game well, too, making 6.32 interceptions per game. Those two stats alone build a picture of a solid defender with a 'thou shalt not pass' attitude, whether the player comes at him with the ball or attempts to play it through. The basic job of a full back is to stop players getting in crosses and stopping them cutting inside.

Bola managed that, but what about the skills that set a wide defender apart? These days they need to be comfortable bringing the ball forward and often overloading wide areas. Certainly at Brentford, a side heavy on chance creation, we'd need to see more than just good defending from a player.

Bola ticks those boxes too. He made 3.35 dribbles per game and got 3.74 crosses in on average every match as well. Both are good stats, not outstanding, but showing a real willingness to get forward and help an attack. If he's shown Brentford he can do it on occasion, they'll know they have the attributes to work with.

Finally, he managed 70.2% pass accuracy, a decent number again showing a certain composure on the ball one would expect from a former Arsenal trainee.

There is definitely enough in his stats last season to suggest a move to Brentford and extra attacking responsibilities are within his skillset.