A player with the potential to thrill Portsmouth fans, but exciting ex-Crystal Palace man now needs to find home after testing spell abroad
That’s how Brandon Pierrick emerged at Crystal Palace, as he became the second youngest player to feature in the Premier League for the Eagles two years ago.
But the winger arrives at Fratton Park off the back of a testing period which saw his move to the Danish top flight fail to ignite.
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Hide AdNow the 20-year-old is looking to find a new home, with Danny Cowley affording him the chance to earn a Pompey deal in pre-season.
Pierrick impressed in a second-half run out in the 5-2 victory over Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, providing the ball in for Joe Pigott’s impressive 74th-minute header.
With Cowley in the market for a winger, he looks set to be keeping a close eye on the Brixton-raised talent over the coming days.
Pierrick’s Palace debut against Norwich in 2020 was the culmination of his development at the club he’d been at since the age of eight.
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Hide AdThere was to be just one more top-flight outing amid a total three appearances, before he departed for Vejle Boldklub in Denmark last year.
In between, there had been a stint in the SPL for Kilmarnock which returned three games over the second half of the 2020-21 season.
Any Pompey fan who takes 10 minutes to look at the videos of Pierrick in action for Palace’s under-23 side will be enthused by what they see.
Google houses a catalogue of eye-catching volleyed and driven goals, along with plenty of clips of the lively 5ft 7in man forcing defences on to the back foot.
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Hide AdPierrick looks comfortable with the ball at either foot and equally adept on either flank.
His Wyscout stats show he’s played most of his football down the left but has also been used down the right and through the middle, with that coming from a relatively small sample of senior fixtures.
Pierrick averages 0.81 shots per 90 minutes, with 66.7 per cent of those efforts on target.
When it comes to passes he totals 20.06 per 90, with a 75.7 per cent completion rate.
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Hide AdPierrick averages 4.34 dribbles per 90 with 68.8 per cent successful, though he averages a single cross with a zero per cent completion.
That figure in isolation is a worry, but scratch deeper and the figures are ascertained from three Vejle outings totalling 49 minutes, three games in the SPL for Kilmarnock at a total 93 minutes and 22 minutes of Premier League sub appearances along with one FA Cup start for Palace.
There will be questions about how Pierrick came to see his contract cancelled in Denmark eight months into his stay, with French side Montpellier said to be interested this summer.
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