Paul Heckingbottom post-match
The former Derby County loan man is with PNE for the season
Everton manager David Moyes has suggested he’d like Harrison Armstrong to stay at Preston North End for the season if possible.
However, the Scot did state that the Toffees will weigh up whether to recall the teenager during the January transfer window. Loan agreements with Premier League clubs, more often than not, offer the parent club a period in which they can recall their player.
Highly rated Armstrong has made 11 appearances for PNE, having turned out eight times for Everton’s first team prior to joining North End. He is set to return from a brief injury against Wrexham next weekend.
In Moyes’ latest pre-match press conference, he was asked about the possibility of bringing Armstrong back - given the impression the England Under-19 star has made at Deepdale. Preston’s former boss couldn’t ruled it out but seemed reluctant.
“I’m really happy with how Harrison is doing,” said Moyes. “He’s coming on great. I think Preston would be hugely disappointed if we took him back. But he’s also got an injury at the moment as well. He’s been out for the last few games with an injury at Preston but hopefully, he’s due back very shortly.
“We’ll consider it in January. But I think at the moment, him getting the games at the age he’s at and where he’s performing... Preston, hopefully, will have a really good chance of making the play-offs and I think for him it’s a good level to be playing at.”
Moyes’ midfield admission
Everton’s signing of Merlin Rohl in the summer allowed Armstrong to make the switch to Lancashire. However, the German is sidelined for around another month. In addition to that, experienced midfielder Idrissa Gueye will head to the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal. The competition starts in late December.
“We are light in midfield,” the Everton boss said. “Merlin having an operation has left us light, so we are quite short, but we’ve got other people who can play in there like Charly Alcaraz and Dwight McNeil if we need to as well.
“Overall, the four midfield players that we had, Merlin is probably not going to be back until the start of January - and Idrissa’s absence keeps us short in that area.”
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