An all-round forward who Wolves wanted to loan to the Championship - the lowdown on Portsmouth target Niall Ennis

The 21-year-old is on Kenny Jackett’s target list to bolster the Blues’ striking options ahead of the transfer window closing at 5pm on Friday, October 16.

Ennis is also reportedly wanted by League One rivals Oxford United.

The England youth international spent last season in the third tier on loan at Doncaster Rovers where he scored six goals in 31 appearances – including a run of four efforts in nine games before the 2019-20 campaign was curtailed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

To gauge what sort of player Pompey would be getting should Ennis move to Fratton Park, we got the lowdown from Doncaster Free Press reporter Liam Hoden.

First of all, what type of forward is Niall Ennis?

He's quite versatile, really. At the start of last season, he played as a lone striker for Doncaster.

That was more down to circumstances because Rovers didn't really have anyone who could play in that position during the first half of the season.

He did alright up there because he works his socks off and gives defences something to think about.

Rovers brought in Fejiri Okenabirhie from Shrewsbury in January. When he arrived, Ennis switched out to the left-wing behind the striker and did well there as well.

He's not particularly big but is fairly strong and athletic.

He's not massively quick but isn't slow, either. He's a decent all-rounder and you know you were always going to get a shift out of him and would cause the opposition problems.

In goalscoring terms, he had a bit of a spurt just before the curtailment of the season, scoring four goals in eight games.

That was because he was freed up a little bit, given a bit more space and was taking up positions he'd not previously been in before.

Overall, it was a decent loan spell and quite a few people would have been happy for him to come back this season.

Did it take a little while for the penny to drop as he adjusted to League One?

I think it did. In the position he played, there was an awful lot asked of him.

He certainly developed and got better over time.

I think that was a case of him finding his feet and getting comfortable with what was being asked of him.

Even when he moved positions after Christmas, he settled really quickly.

Pompey need an additional striker rather than another winger. What's his best role?

Ennis can do a job leading the line, definitely. He did really well bringing other players into the game.

Kieran Sadlier finished as top scorer last season and was so impressive when coming in from wide areas.

Part of that was because of the running Ennis did to create the space and give Sadlier the option to come inside.

Ennis wouldn't be your traditional number nine or a target man. His game is more about his running and creating space for others.

Are you surprised Doncaster didn't try to get Ennis back this summer?

They were certainly asking the question if he was available early on in the window.

It sounds like Wolves were keen to get him out to a Championship club initially. I'm assuming they've not been able to line anyone up.

Doncaster moved on and brought a couple of other young loanees in Tyreece John-Jules from Arsenal and Rayhaan Tulloch from West Brom.

The questions were asked to Wolves but Rovers probably thought it'd be too late when they might get the go-ahead.

Now there are no real funds to bring anyone else in.

What was the sort of impression Ennis made on manager Darren Moore?

A really good one. Darren loves anyone who will run their socks off and work hard.

He kept faith with Ennis a lot even though there were other options.

Moore found that position for Ennis out wide even though there were players, on paper, who were more natural to play there. He liked him a lot.

You get strikers who aren't scoring goals and they can be a bit of a waste of time and need something to shake them out that mindset.

Ennis was never like that. He was always working hard for the team and understanding that what he was doing might not get him a goal but will create opportunities for others.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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