Morecambe loan former Preston North End youngster from Blackburn Rovers

The 21-year-old forward has joined the Shrimps from Blackburn Rovers for the rest of the season, becoming the 16th player moving to the Mazuma Mobile Stadium over the summer.

Walker came through the ranks at Preston North End, becoming the youngest player to feature for them when – aged 16 years and 156 days – he appeared against Aston Villa in December 2018.

That was one of two appearances he made for PNE, having come off the bench in a Carabao Cup win at Bradford City the following August.

He also had loan spells with Altrincham, Stalybridge Celtic, Carlisle United and AFC Fylde before leaving Deepdale in the summer of 2022.

Having been released by North End, Walker penned a two-year deal with Blackburn for whom he has scored seven times in two Premier League 2 seasons for the U21s.

Morecambe boss Derek Adams said: “Ethan is a young, hungry forward who wants to continue his development and we see this as a good opportunity for him to do that at the same time as helping us in League Two this season.

“You can see from his career to date that he hasn’t been afraid to go out and test himself in men’s football and try to push himself – and those are fantastic attributes for us to bring to Morecambe FC.”

Walker’s arrival took Morecambe to the 22-man squad previously earmarked by Adams, who had let all 14-out-of-contract players leave at the end of last season amid uncertainty over his budget for 2023-24.

In all, Morecambe’s business for the summer transfer window looks like this:

Outs: Ryan Cooney, Dan Crowley, Ryan Delaney, Courtney Duffus, Liam Gibson, Arthur Gnahoua, Ash Hunter, Andre Da Silva Mendes, Oumar Niasse, Jon Obika, Connor Ripley, Adam Smith, Pape Souare, Cole Stockton.

Ins: Tom Bloxham (loan), Charlie Brown, James Connolly (loan) Jacob Davenport, Eli King (loan), JJ McKiernan, Michael Mellon (loan), Stuart Moore, Joel Senior, Adam Smith (re-signed), Cammy Smith, Yann Songo’o, Chris Stokes, Jordan Slew, David Tutonda, Ethan Walker (loan).