Preston North End starlet blocks out watchful eyes but is still keen to impress Ryan Lowe

The 19-year-old has been impressing whilst out on loan at Ashton United in the seventh tier and was watched last week by first team manager Ryan Lowe and the rest of his coaching staff as PNE drew 1-1 with Huddersfield Town in the Central League.

But despite wanting to impress Lowe, Amaral has learned to ignore when he’s under more scrutiny and focus on his football.

He told the Lancashire Post: “I used to but now you've got to learn to not really pay much attention to it because you can't just try and play well when the first team staff are watching so you've got to try and play well when anyone is watching - even if no one is watching.

"I try not to let it get to me too much but it's good when they are watching. It's good here and there in the first team, I'm not there that much but I just need to keep improving.

"I'm probably not as ready as I thought I was but now I've gone out on loan and I'm going to try and impress as best as I can, and do as best as I can, to be in and around the first team again.”

Amaral was involved with the first team for pre-season and went on PNE’s training camp in Spain over the summer.

The midfielder saw it as an enlightening learning process.

He said: “It was probably the best experience I've had within football, being around the first team. It was the first time I'd ever been around the first team staff and the players, it was a really good highlight within this year for me.

"I really enjoyed being around it, going to Spain and playing in the sun. It was a big step but I felt like I dealt with it pretty well. I felt like when we got back to England it was a totally different environment and that's when I saw the two different levels that I'd been playing at.

"It's good, it's very different to the youth team football that I had been playing.”