Preston North End have signed forward, Layton Stewart from Liverpool for an undisclosed transfer fee.
Stewart had spent the majority of his career so far at Liverpool where he graduated through their youth academy and made his senior debut in a goalless draw at home to Derby in last season’s Carabao Cup, which Jurgen Klopp’s Reds ultimately won on penalties.
Liverpool however have since decided to let Stewart leave after accepting a undisclosed transfer offer from Preston, with the 20 year-old signing a three-year contract at Deepdale.
Stewart is “delighted” to take “another step” in his career with this permanent move to Preston, which he described as “… the right move for my development to try and get some first team football.
The 20 year-old though admitted that switching from youth-level football to Championship level will be a step up, as he added: “I’ve scored at youth level but I’ve got to take it into a first team environment now and try and do it for Preston in the games that I play in.
“I need to be with the lads and try and find my feet fast. It’s a big opportunity but it’s a good one for me to develop and obviously I need time, but hopefully I can do what I’ve done over the past few years.”
Manager, Ryan Lowe meanwhile felt “really glad” to sign Stewart after having personally monitored his progress through Liverpool’s youth ranks, and is hopeful that he can develop the youngster “into a top player.”
Lowe however has urged patience from supporters as he continued: “What I will say is we’ll take our time with him and build him up. He’ll need to get used to Championship football so I don’t want to put too much pressure on him from the outset, but we’re really excited to have him here.
“He’s a fox in the box and more importantly he’s a real goalscorer. He’ll learn loads here and we feel we can get him in the right areas to give him the chances we know he can put away.”
Stewart could make his competitive debut for Preston away at Bristol City on Saturday 5 August, with his home bow at Deepdale likely to come against Salford on 8 August in Round One of 2023-24 Carabao Cup.
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