‘Massive future’ - Ryan Lowe sets out plan for Preston North End breakout star Kian Best

Preston North End manager Ryan Lowe believes Kian Best has a ‘massive future’ ahead of him - but knows the work he must do in order to fulfill that potential.

Best broke into the first team at the start of the season, straight out of the club’s academy. He was given the nod for the opening day draw at Bristol City and went on to start against Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea, The 18-year-old then dropped to the bench for several weeks, with last Saturday’s win over Coventry City his first start for more than two months.

The youngster played a part in North End’s first two goals in the 3-2 triumph, with Best shifting inside to operate as left centre-back - having played at wing-back in previous outings. His 77 minute performance earned praise from the PNE boss post match, with the positivity Best showed in possession a big plus for Lowe.

“Well yeah, we worked with him on that after training for a little bit,” said Lowe. “Calm, collected regains, getting on the ball and finding your wing-backs or strikers. He has got a lovely left foot, as you’ve seen. But sometimes, because he is a Preston fan and because he is from Preston, he wants to do it that little bit more.

“But, he’s got to take the emotion out of it, because he’s going to have a massive future ahead of him. And he’s got to be Kian Best the player, rather than Kian Best the Preston North End supporter with family and everyone here. If he takes that out of it, he is going to become even better. So, we’ve had to work with him to not try and risk too many passes. We have safe, secure and risk areas on the pitch. As I say, he’s been fantastic, even in the five games he played earlier on in the season.”

Lowe also explained how Best has been in the gym a lot in recent weeks, following a brief ‘dip in form’ on the training pitch. The defender is a highly thought of prospect and PNE felt it necessary to get Best ‘doing the right work’ - in order to give him the best chance of performing on the pitch. Lowe says the youngster cannot take his foot off the gas in that regard.

“Yeah, he’s got to get stronger and keep working on getting fitter,” said Lowe. “He is only a young lad isn’t he? And has never had this type of training. He only came up with us last season, for a little bit. Obviously he’s shone this season and come pre-season, there was three of them: him, Kian (Taylor) and little Kitt (Nelson). They were like: ‘Wow, really? Is this the intensity of training?’ and then they’ve got it now, so fair play to them.

“With Besty, we need to make sure we keep on top of him. So, he’s got to get physically stronger, because he’s got to become a specimen like the rest of them. And he’s got to get fitter, which he is doing to be fair to him. He is only a young lad, so we’ve got to manage all of that - make sure he’s eating the right food and doing the right stuff in the gym. And make sure that he’s not just in the gym to be in the gym, he’s doing stuff that will help him progress and be better.”

Lowe added: “He’s obviously one of our own and that’s what the fans sing. He’s been a credit to himself and his family of late. He probably does more sessions than most. He’s in early in the morning, just to make sure he is right. And he obviously knew he was going to be playing in that formation. He went out and executed it well. We knew he would blow up with cramp in the end, so we didn’t want to risk him, but fantastic. To come up against those type of players and work the way he did, with control and calmness on the ball, was fantastic. He has got a bright future ahead of him.”