TEEN GAMBLE LUKS TO BE PAYING OFF
PRESTON
Barkhuizen 17, Robinson 51, Gallagher 85 pen, Burn og 90 WIGAN 4 0
BY
LUKAS NMECHA is confident he can follow his friend Jadon Sancho into the senior England squad.
Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has opened the door to youngsters who swap academy football for first-team experience, with the inclusion of the Borussia Dortmund teen Sancho, Mason Mount and James Maddison.
And Nmecha, 19, on a season-long loan at Preston from Manchester City, hopes it will not be long before he gets a call from Southgate. “Jadon used to train with us at City,” he said. “I played with Mason Mount as well and it’s an incentive when you see those guys can do it.
“I had a knee injury for the last round of international call-ups, so I think I’m on stand-by this time around.
“This is my first loan and you never know how tough it would be, but I decided to take the challenge because I believe in myself.
“I feel I’m getting stronger and quicker already. I’m sharper and learning about the game. It is all about playing new systems and getting more knowledge.” Recent performances must have earned glowing reports to his parent club and Preston fans gave him a standing ovation when he came off in the dying minutes of this demolition of Wigan.
Tom Barkhuizen set Preston on the way to their first league win since the opening game of the season.
Callum Robinson doubled their lead before Nmecha (above) was fouled for a penalty that Paul Gallagher converted. “I did ask if I could take it, but he wanted it and scored it so I can’t complain,” said Nmecha.
Dan Burn’s own goal completed the rout. Wigan skipper Sam Morsy said “We had a lot of fans here and we let them down.”