Paul Heckingbottom on Millwall
The former Derby County loan man is at PNE for the season from Everton
Preston North End assistant Stuart McCall hopes Harrison Armstrong will stick around for the full 2025/26 campaign.
The midfielder, 18, is on loan at Deepdale from Everton. PNE secured his signature on transfer deadline day in the summer and Armstrong, an England youth international, has gone from strength-to-strength.
The number five has made himself a regular in Paul Heckingbottom’s starting XI and McCall wished to fire the Toffees a message, when on pre-match press conference duty this week.
“Yeah, he's doing okay, but he needs to stay with us at the end of the season,” said a smiling McCall. “There's no doubt about that. But no, at the end of (last) season I got 14 midfielders to look at from the recruitment department. I went through them all and Harrison was the one that stood out.
“Obviously, I looked at all his games, played at Derby, but it wasn't so much that. It was just maturity. At Derby, they were fighting for their lives at the time when he went in and he was more doing the bits of the game that a lot of people don't see. For an 18-year-old, his game intelligence was very, very good.
“Since we started working with him, you see that every day. He's such a popular lad in the dressing room. He gets on with the young and the old and everyone. As I say, he's infectious. I thought it’d be good when we managed to get him. We had to wait until the last day of the deadline, but it has been worth it.
“He's probably been better than I would’ve imagined. We saw him against Mansfield in the cup for Everton and I thought they might keep him in. He created two goals that night. I think he's doing his development good. He's enjoying his football. He's enjoying playing week in, week out. Long may that continue.”
Former loan club Derby County were after Armstrong’s services once again in the summer, but North End won the race. Everton boss David Moyes has a connection with the Lilywhites and came to watch his player against Birmingham City. McCall says there has been brief dialogue between the two parties, while explaining how Armstrong reminds him of a former Toffees favourite.
“I think Paul has done with David,” said McCall. “I don't think he's spoken recently of how he's getting on. Our message with him is that he's doing okay... he's doing okay. Of course (it’s tough to say that with a straight face).
“When you look at young players, for me, I've been in the game over 40-odd years and I've had players with great ability. But they haven't had the attitude to match it. At the moment, and I can't see that changing, Harrison's attitude to the game and his all-round demeanour, his maturity - the last time I saw somebody as mature as that, at that age, was Phil Jagielka when I was at Sheffield United.
“I went there as an old man at 38 and Jags had just got himself in the first team - I think about 18, 19-years-old. That's what Jags had. Jags was very mature for a young kid and I see a lot of that in Harrison.”
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