Wigan Athletic star urged to find another level next season after sparkling show - 'I'm a big fan'

The Norway Under-21 international was one of Latics' stand-out players last year, after being given the coveted No.10 shirt last summer by Shaun Maloney.

And the Latics boss believes there's far more to come from a young player with a massive future in the game.

"I thought Thelo made a really big step up as a professional last year, and became a really important player for us," he said.

"The big push for him this year is to go again and get more, and become an even more important player for us.

"Last year we wanted him to get to 10 goals, this year we want him to get to 15 goals.

"He's come back from the summer very, very well...yeah, I'm a big fan of Thelo."

Aasgaard appeared off the bench for the second half at the Wham! Stadium, one of 10 changes as Maloney gave his entire squad half a game.

The only exception was centre-back James Carragher, who played 80 minutes after Jason Kerr pulled out of the game late after his wife gave birth to a baby boy.

"Ideally James would have played 45 minutes like everyone else," added Maloney. "But with the squad numbers, and Jason being out, we needed someone to play additional minutes.

"Actually I was really impressed with James and what he gave us. There was one moment when he didn't quite find the right pass after a really good dribble, but I was very pleased with the way he came back."

Carragher was replaced 10 minutes before the end by former Burnley junior Jack Rogers - son of former Latics loanee Alan - who played a few times for the Under-21s last season as a trialist.

"In fairness to Jack, it was a tough situation for him," added Maloney. "He's trained only once with us, I know he's been with the Under-21s since the end of last season, and it's been good for him."

Latics’ next warm-up game is next Friday night at Chorley, with a trip to Fylde the day after.