Preston North End striker Layton Stewart has been seen in individual training at Euxton as he looks to make a Championship debut.
North End needed striking additions this summer and landed two big signings in Will Keane and Milutin Osmajic.
There was another addition though as PNE pounced to snap up Liverpool youngster Layton Stewart.
North End moved to sign Stewart on a permanent basis, handing him a chance of senior football after his years in the Liverpool setup.
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Liverpool born and bred, Stewart was a highly-rated prospect in their academy but a major knee injury in 2021 set him back a little.
Now hoping to kick on with PNE, Stewart has faced a slow start to life at Deepdale.
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Ryan Lowe highlighted Layton Stewart issues
Stewart featured in pre-season but couldn’t quite get into games after his arrival from Anfield.
We’re yet to see Stewart in a competitive game for North End and he hasn’t even been on the bench yet either.
That has resulted in questions over the 21-year-old with boss Ryan Lowe outlining some physical development needed.
Lowe told Lancs Live in August that he felt Stewart was ‘miles off’ where he needs to be in order to make an impact for North End.
Lowe added that Stewart ‘found things difficult’ in pre-season and simply ‘is not physically strong enough’.
Stewart is still very highly rated by Lowe, hailing him as a ‘fantastic talent’, and his time will come but it’s a case of working hard and being patient for now.
Stewart spotted in individual training programme
PNE have posted up a video from training at Euxton in recent days with players continuing to work hard over the international break.
Real attention was drawn towards Stewart, who was shown working in something of an individual training programme from six minutes onwards.
Stewart was put through his paces with plenty of on-ball work as he ramps up his push for Championship action.
This goes to show that PNE are placing a keen focus on Stewart’s development, gradually building him up for Championship action.
Maybe Stewart will feature prominently in the Central League games coming up in order to accelerate his progress with Lowe no doubt keen to only play him in the Championship when absolutely ready.
It may take a while for Stewart to feature in the PNE side but we’re still confident that he can make a big impact and bring his goalscoring exploits from the Liverpool youth ranks to the North End first team.