Despite only being 18-years-old, Preston North End left-back Josh Earl is confident in his abilities to make the jump from academy football to the Championship.

Standing at an impressive six foot four, the youngster who joined the club aged nine, came on for his professional debut in the club’s 1-0 win over Reading recently and he looked the part.

Speaking to the Lancashire Post Earl claimed ““It’s not like I’m a little boy coming in and getting pushed over”.

With Greg Cunningham looking set to miss the next few weeks of action at a minimum after under undergoing knee surgery, this could be Earl’s chance to get some consistent football under his belt and prove his worth to his club.

He certainly has the confidence and fans of the Lancashire club will be hoping his abilities can back up his words.

The Verdict

It’s always good to see an academy player break through into the first team.

Obviously, the youngster’s sheer size is going to help him massively in his defensive duties.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you’re six foot four then you will be tough to get passed and equally as tough to handle in the air.

He looked solid in his debut against Reading but one good performance isn’t enough.

He’ll need to keep working hard to improve on that and if he can then Preston might have a new star in their ranks.

What do you think Preston fans? How far do you think Josh Earl can go? Let us know in the comments down below!