Nathan Lowe hopes he is catching the eye of Narcis Pelach as his goals keep loan club Walsall challenging for promotion from League Two.
The 19-year-old striker is getting his first real taste of regular senior football on loan alongside fellow Stoke youth graduate keeper Tommy Simkin, and both are winning points and plaudits. Lowe was last week crowned EFL young player of the month and has now found the net 11 times in 20 appearances and has set up another three.
“I am just trying to domestically score as many goals as possible and get myself recognised through that”, he said in an interview for the Walsall club website. “And hopefully [my] parent club are watching and impressed with what I am doing.
“I want to just keep it going to be honest because at the end of the day it is just me enjoying my football and that is to get the best out of me.”
He added: "I think I should have had more goals and more assists. I don't necessarily focus on it too much as a striker. If it happens, it happens, if not I want to help the team with tertiary assists, secondary assists, as well through link-up play and what not. I like to drop deep and get on the ball to dictate play.
"As for the goals, I always want to score more. I've got 11 but it could be 15. Obviously you can't score everything and that's me being self-critical, but that's the sort of talk I have with myself. I want to be better, I want to score more. I'm not winning the golden boot race so there's room for improvement. If I'm running away with that then I might be kinder to myself."
Lowe, who joined Stoke's academy when he was still at primary school, is trying to learn from the best in that regard and seeing how Manchester City striker Erling Haaland reacts to missing chances as well as taking them.
"It's more difficult than you think," he told the Express and Star. "It's a massive mental battle. I've definitely been getting better at it by working with people at Walsall and my parent club. I'm trying to be like a goldfish, forget about it and not let it affect my next chance, almost laugh at it.
"Look at Erling Haaland, he misses really easy chances sometimes and then he'll go and score a hat-trick because he laughs when he misses and he's not fussed."
That kind of talk got the approval of Walsall manager Mat Sadler, who is now preparing for an FA Cup second round show down with Nathan Jones's Charlton Athletic this weekend.
Sadler said: “Everyone talks about the best, and I’m glad he’s talking about the mentality of some of the best because that’s what makes them the best.
“Nathan is experiencing something in league football that he’s never experienced before and that’s what it’s all about. He’s taken to it very impressively, but he knows he’s got an incredible family to support him and he knows that it doesn’t stop.”
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