New boy Anthony Gordon can bring Preston North End alive going forward with his dribbling skills says Alex Neil

Gordon, 19, has come on loan from Everton for the rest of the season and will be in the squad for today’s clash with Rotherham at Deepdale.

It is the Toffees teenager’s dribbling ability which has caught the attention of Neil and the PNE boss hopes it can fill a gap which has been there for a season-and-a-half.

“Probably since Callum Robinson left we’ve not had a great deal of dribblers,” Neil told the Lancashire Post.

“We have guys who more want to run on to the ball rather than take the ball and run with it.

“I think we are one of the lowest in the league for dribbles, so it is something we’ve needed to add.

“It’s something we’ve tried to add before but they are not easy to find.

“Hopefully we’ve got one with Anthony. If you are a good dribbler you can beat people, commit them, get past them and draw another player out to free space up for a team-mate.

“We’re very hopeful that Anthony can do well here, he’s a good lad and was eager to come when we spoke.”

Neil first saw Gordon in action in a pre-season game for Everton at Wigan in 2019.

He wasn’t minded to try and take him on loan back then but had kept him in mind along the way.

Said Neil: “You go and watch games and if a player stands out, you naturally log in your head and think they have got potential.

“It was a year-and-a-half ago in pre-season that I went to watch Everton play at Wigan because we were going to play Wigan in the first week of the season.

“Anthony stood out like a sore thumb that game and when I checked his age he was only 17. I didn’t think then he would be ready to come on loan to the Championship.

“He’s developed since then, he played against us during pre-season and did really well.

“I’d been keeping track on him, seeing where he was going with his development.

“Anthony has been quite heavily involved in the Everton squad.

“He was one of those where I was hoping we might have a chance of getting rather than thinking we would definitely get him – with him being in the Everton squad I didn’t know if they’d let him out.”

Gordon will be an option for the wings together with Tom Barkhuizen and Scott Sinclair.

In the last three matches, Brad Potts has been used in a wide role.

Billy Bodin is also back in contention now after knee surgery,

He returned to action as a subs in the defeat at Sheffield Wednesday last week.

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 per month for the first two months. Try us today by clicking here