POOLE star Will Spetch knows what it is like to be thrust into the limelight as a non-league player.

Currently all the attention at the BlackGold stadium is on goal-machine Tony Lee, with professional clubs circling the 36-goal striker.

National League Torquay United remain the most interested party with an enquiry and subsequent informal discussions held, but the Devon outfit are still someway off the “respectable five-figure” fee Poole would command for their leading man.

The club’s stance remains that unless their valuation of the 25-year-old is met, he will stay a Poole Town player until at least the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

Roll the years back to 2013, when Spetch enjoyed multiple trials with numerous Football League teams, including boyhood club Portsmouth, Cherries, and Huddersfield Town.

Like most players in the seventh tier, both Spetch and Lee combine day jobs with their footballing careers, meaning unlike their professional counterparts, transfer speculation rarely becomes larger than WhatsApp group chat gossip.

However, after undergoing the same rumour mill Lee now finds himself, Spetch believes that the experience can benefit his teammate.

Speaking to the Daily Echo, Spetch stated: “I think it's all down to personality really, as much as you sort of take notice of if you go on social media, you see a lot of people obviously saying this and that.

“They obviously praise the player quite a bit. But I think if you're a good player, you just take it into your game and just strive off of it really.

“Obviously, depending on what sort of mentality you got as a player, it probably could affect you.

“But someone like Tony, who's got quite broad shoulders and he obviously loves the attention. To score 36 goals this season is unbelievable.

“When I had all that interest five or six years ago, I strived off it a little bit as well.

“So fair play to him. I do hope he goes on to bigger and better things, because he deserves it.”