Felipe Rodriguez-Gentile admitted he’s “very happy” at the moment to be with the first team, and he’s keen to keep learning and improving.
The 16-year-old, who is going into the first year of his scholarship at Deepdale, has been with the senior squad since the opening match of pre-season against Bamber Bridge.
Scoring a fantastic goal that day off the bench, the forward earned a place in the squad which traveled to Spain and he’s since scored twice more in friendly matches, including Wednesday’s clash with Ipswich Town at Deepdale.
He found the back of the net in the 81st minute and he also thought he’d netted with almost the last kick of the game, only to be denied by the offside flag.
Felipe said: “I’m feeling very happy. Of course I wanted that second goal to be allowed, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I’m very happy with the goal and to help the team.
“I always try to shoot every time I get the ball, so as soon as I got the ball I tried to turn and shoot as fast as I could, because they’re obviously bigger players so they get in touch with me very quickly so I had to take a touch and shoot. I had it in my mind and it went in.”
Having only just finished school a few months ago, the young Argentine forward – who was scouted playing at grassroots level in Liverpool – has never trained full-time previously, so coming in to train with the first team unsurprisingly took a bit of getting used to.
“At this age especially I’m very happy to be with them because I’ll keep improving,” he added.
“Playing with more experienced players at Championship level is of course great experience and there’s a lot to learn, and I’m learning a lot as well.
“Training every day is definitely a new experience. It’s very different to what I was used to being at school.
“It was tough the first couple of weeks. As we get closer to the end of pre-season I feel like I’m improving and getting more stamina, improving with my football and I’m feeling great right now.”