Eberechi Eze benefitted from Gareth Ainsworth’s guidance and the Gillingham manager hopes he can help another young Crystal Palace forward progress.
Asher Agbinone, 19, joined the Gills on loan from Palace in January, but the promising forward went back to the Premier League club to recover from a hamstring issue, an injury he picked up after just four appearances in League 2.
Two months later, with Ainsworth replacing John Coleman as manager, Agbinone was back playing for the Gills at Salford, making a late introduction off the bench.
Ainsworth’s spoken to Agbinone about his time coaching Eze at Wycombe, when the attacking talent joined them from QPR, enjoying a half-season loan during the team’s promotion season in League 2.
Eze joined Palace in 2020 and has established himself as a top talent in the Premier League and an England international, a player who could command a fee in excess of £60m this summer.
Ainsworth hopes the short spell at Gillingham will also be a benefit for Agbinone.
The manager said: “He’s a kid here to learn a lot and hopefully he’ll learn.
“I had Eberechi Eze at Wycombe from QPR and obviously he went on to Crystal Palace.
“I’m not likening Asher to him, because they’re different positions, but I’m likening the journey that Asher might go on and saying: ‘Look Asher, we had Eze at the start and he had all these things that he enjoyed’. He got games and he refined himself.
“I remember stopping videos for Eze sometimes and saying: ‘This is wrong, this is right’.
“I said to Asher, if the guy who’s the England star at the moment has gone through it, then you can definitely go through it and it’ll be part of your journey.
“He’s a cracking lad, a real cracking lad with pace to burn.
“I’ll be teaching him how best to use that pace and when to run people, when to hold it up.
“It’s fantastic to see him on the pitch.
“I’m hoping that he can go on to cracking things with Palace in the future and remember his time at Gillingham was a learning process for him.”
As usual, the loans this season have had mixed results at Gillingham.
Agbinone’s been hit with an injury, while Liverpool’s young midfielder Dom Corness can’t get into the squad and has only played four games.
Peterborough loan forward Jacob Wakeling’s recently made a few substitute appearances but has barely featured since the early months of the season.
Chelsea’s Jimmy-Jay Morgan, 19, has shown more promise and has been in and out of the starting line-up since joining on loan in January. He’s scored once in 15 games.
Defender Andy Smith – on loan from Hull – has been the only loan player to hold down a regular place in the team, starting the last 12 before injury kept him out at the weekend.
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