Preston manager Alex Neil has high hopes for academy graduate Ethan Walker

Neil started the 18-year-old winger in Saturday’s friendly against Everton which ended in a 2-0 defeat. It was in December 2018 that Neil gave Walker his debut in the first-team when he was only 16.

He’s featured only once since then, as a substitute at Bradford early last season in the Carabao Cup.

Preston-born Walker played on the right-wing at Goodison Park, featuring for 73 minutes before giving way to Adam O’Reilly.

Neil said: “Ethan has 100% got a chance of making it, he’s definitely got a chance.

“He had got a trick where he can go past someone and he’s got a goal in him.

“What we need to do is get a good understanding of the game into his head in terms of tactics.

“Once you get to this level of football it becomes like a game of chess – if you take one step out of position and don’t cover that ground, you get punished.

“People say about these youngsters ‘just let them go and play’. If you do that you end up out of a job and in the house, and somebody else comes in to organise them.

“Ethan will learn as he goes along. We’ve flung him in from Under-18s football to come and play at Goodison Park.”

Walker had a scoring chance late in the first half, riding a challenge to get clear of the Everton defence.

He got into the box and opted to shoot, forcing a fine save from Toffees teenage keeper Harry Tyrer.

Said Neil: “He had Josh Harrop and Brad Potts in the middle and would probably say now that he should have squared it.

“But if he got into that position again and thinks he is going to score, I would fully expect him to have a go. I had no problem with him shooting at all. To be fair to him, he did great to get there.

“He skipped past the lad on the touchline and drove into the box, then the chance opened up for him.”

The Everton clash was PNE’s final friendly before the Championship’s opening day fixture against Swansea at Deepdale on Saturday.

Neil will use the week to do some fine-tuning on the training pitch.

“We will get oursleves ready for Swansea now,” said Neil. “Swansea are the focus for us over the next few days.”

Darnell Fisher came through 73 minutes at Everton, his first slice of action after a calf strain.

Meanwhile, Preston have been drawn away to Derby in the second round of the Carabao Cup. Should Alex Neil’s men get the better of Derby, they will then face the winners of the Brighton versus Portsmouth encounter at Deepdale in the third round.