Harrison Armstrong is attracting rave reviews now that he has settled in at Preston North End
Preston North End's Everton loanee Harrison Armstrong goes down under pressure from West Bromwich Albion's Toby Collyer during the Sky Bet Championship match at The Hawthorns. Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images
Preston North End's Everton loanee Harrison Armstrong goes down under pressure from West Bromwich Albion's Toby Collyer during the Sky Bet Championship match at The Hawthorns. Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images
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Everton starlet Harrison Armstrong is causing a stir at Preston North End after breaking into the club’s first team.
The 18-year-old took a few weeks to settle after his deadline day move saw him land in a team that had started the Championship campaign well. Boss Paul Heckingbottom acknowledged the timing of the midfielder’s arrival combined with his side’s form had led to the England youth international requiring patience when he spoke to the ECHO earlier this month.
He has since forced his way into the starting XI and has not looked back, winning the praise of his manager, captain and former players on the way.
One of those ex-Preston stars, Liverpool FC academy graduate Neil Mellor, has become the latest influential figure to be blown away by the England Under-19s talent.
Providing his assessment to the Lancashire Evening Post, he said of Armstrong: “Yeah, [has has been] really impressive. In the youth circuit you've heard of the names, but you're never really sure how they can handle the first team environment. For a player, at 18, to be ready and brave enough to go out on loan shows the sort of character he is, and the belief that Everton have in him to be able to cope.
“For the manager to trust him and play him in so many games... when I watched him against Charlton I was like, ‘God, who's this? What a player’. You can see he has that in him, but he's going to have challenges along the way. He'll have dips in form, he'll have little injuries and he'll have to deal with certain situations. But from what I've seen, he looks like a very intelligent, clever football player which then can help players further up the pitch.”
Everton manager David Moyes deliberated intensely over whether to allow Armstrong to leave on loan. The teenager enjoyed a positive spell at Derby County in the second half of last season, one Moyes followed with interest, and was involved in Premier League and Carabao Cup games at the start of the campaign. Armstrong was named man of the match in the cup win over Mansfield Town.
But the deadline day acquisition of Merlin Rohl gave Moyes the leeway to sanction a move he believed would better aid Armstrong’s development.
Speaking to the ECHO about his star loanee, Heckingbottom said he had the potential to become a key player this season. He said: “He's a driven lad, he puts expectation on himself. We know what he can do and, seeing what he could do even with Everton's first team this season, we've got an expectation of him as well and I was really pleased that we could get him, because I think he'll be a really, really good player for us this season.”
That belief has extended into the dressing room, with captain Ben Whiteman also telling the Post: “Harrison is going to be a top-quality player, he’s going to be a Premier League player.”