Opinion: Preston North End wonderkid’s pre-season form could alert Man City, Man United and Liverpool once again | OneFootball

Preston North End have had a real striker crisis this summer as not a single forward they had available to them last season was at Ryan Lowe's disposal as they headed into pre-season training.

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Emil Riis is still recovering from ACL surgery that he underwent in January, with a September return date expected, and the same timeline has been given for Ched Evans, who had to undergo neck in early May.

Then there was the case of the three loanees in Tom Cannon, Liam Delap and Troy Parrott that returned to their parent clubs - Cannon is the one that the Lilywhites want back from Everton but it looks as though there will be a wait for the Toffees to decide what to do with the 20-year-old.

That has left Lowe's options pretty slim - Will Keane has been re-signed from Wigan Athletic eight years on from his brief loan spell at Deepdale, and it follows his 12-goal haul for the Latics in the Championship last season, but he is more of a link-up attacker rather than an on the shoulder number nine.

Earlier in pre-season it has been the likes of Kitt Nelson and Ben Woodburn leading the line, but fans have been clamouring for one name in particular and that is Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile.

The name gained significant traction in December last year when in a 6-1 demolition of Rotherham United's under-18's, Rodriguez-Gentile scored five times, including a strike from long range with his weaker left foot to grab the attention of not just PNE fans but other clubs.

What transfer interest has been showed in Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile?

Back in December, the 16-year-old was believed to be attracting interest from Premier League clubs in the wake of his performance against the Millers.

The Mirror reported that Man United, Man City and Liverpool - who had Rodriguez-Gentile on trial previously before not signing him up - were all keeping tabs on the Brazil-born Argentine, who also holds a Spanish passport, but he had already penned a scholarship with North End, meaning it would cost a decent fee to prize him away from Deepdale.

He continued to fire in goals for the under-18's and with a dearth of attacking options this summer, Rodriguez-Gentile was on the bench against non-league outfit Bamber Bridge on July 1, and he came off it to curl in a wonderful strike from outside the box.

Playing against grown men, Rodriguez-Gentile is very small in stature but it hasn't stopped him finding the back of the net as he jetted off to Spain with the PNE first-team and scored yet again against Gibraltan side Bruno's Magpies.

North End have since stepped up their pre-season activities and he came on for 20 minutes against League Two side Barrow, but he was then pitted against a Championship side in the form of Ipswich Town earlier this week - and it didn't take him long to strike.

Rodriguez-Gentile controlled a ball on the edge of the box and despite two defenders in his path, he struck a ball into the bottom corner of the net.

What has Ryan Lowe said regarding Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile?

Ryan Lowe is the man that has given the young teenager his chance, but following FRG's goal against the Tractor Boys he has tempered enthusiasm about potentially seeing him in Championship action come the start of the season, regardless of his pre-season form and the lack of attacking options currently.

“We have to be careful with him because he’s a baby,” Lowe said.

“We don’t want him to get hurt. I think there was a time where he’s trying to burst through two centre halves and I think the two of them are probably double the size of him and they just shrug him off.

“He’s still a baby and if he was to be tackled off someone of Bambo (Diaby)’s size it’d probably cause him some damage so we do have to be careful with him, but technically, his ability and his awareness is brilliant.

"If you give him a chance like that in the penalty box he scores. He probably could have had a hat-trick."

North End still have a few more pre-season fixtures left before they make the trip to Bristol City on August 5, and if no strikers are brought in before then, then it would be no shock to see Rodriguez-Gentile get more chances.

And his goals are only going to grab the attention of Premier League clubs again, regardless of the fact it's pre-season.

Even though he is on a scholarship deal at Deepdale, it will not stop the vultures from circling and because he's not tied down to a professional contract yet - he can only turn professional at the age of 17 but a pre-contract can be arranged - then it won't take too much in the way of finances to potentially prize Rodriguez-Gentile away.

However, you'd hope that the representatives around him will see that North End have already done well with his development and if he puts on a bit of muscle then there's every chance he could be playing Championship football soon - that is if the likes of City, United and Liverpool do not try and swoop on a smaller club to snap him up.