‘I see that every day’ - Preston North End youngster Noah Mawene making fine impression

Ryan Lowe turned to Noah Mawene at Leicester City earlier this month and it’s not just the Preston North End manager whose eye has been caught.

Mawene, son of PNE legend Youl and first year pro at Deepdale, is impressing the Lilywhites’ number one, Freddie Woodman, every day. Preston’s shot-stopper is part of an early morning gym group at the training ground, with Mawene and fellow youngster Kian Best recently joining the club’s goalkeepers for some pre-training graft.

The 18-year-old agreed professional terms with PNE before he was even 17; Mawene is now in the final year of that pro-deal but hopefully just at the start of his journey. He has been in and around the first team since pre-season, with the substitute appearance at Leicester his second senior outing of the campaign. The work being done by Mawene reminds Woodman of his early self - Preston’s goalie is extremely impressed by what he’s seen.

“Yeah, there’s a good group of us actually,” said Woodman. “Eight o’clock until nine o’clock... it’s the GK union and is almost policed by Mike Pollitt. He is in there doing a bit and we’ve managed to drag in Noah and Besty. So yeah, a really good group of us, but it is definitely run by big Micky Polly. I don’t even think it’s a case of getting bigger (for the young lads), just doing the right things. Noah, for example, is in there every morning just trying to improve and get better - whether that's stretching, trying to put a bit of size on.

“There are people in there doing all different things. Sometimes I go in there and lift weights; sometimes I go in there and do yoga. It's whatever you want to get out of that time and for me, when I was a young lad, I viewed it as wanting people to see me working my nuts off really. So, fair play to Noah, I see that every day and I feel like he's reaping the rewards. You guys probably won't see it, but outside of training he's been brilliant, so fair play to him - he works his conkers off really.”