Charlie Kirk became one of Crewe Alexandra’s most consistent performers during our revival in the second half of last season. After scoring his first senior goal against Chesterfield on Boxing Day, the former Academy graduate went on to score a further four goals, including a dramatic late equaliser against rivals Port Vale at Gresty Road.

After penning a new three-year contract, the 20-year-old is targeting a similar impact at the start of the new season. Kirk has proclaimed the coming season as a ‘massive one’ for him personally after really beginning to find his feet at first-team level.

Kirk told the club’s official website: “Next season is massive for me. I want to get more minutes and game time than I did at the start of last season. I would like to score double figures and provide more assists. As a team we have to be looking at challenging for promotion. We are capable of that.

“Confidence is massive for me and getting that game time and scoring a few goals helped me massively. I worked hard on getting into the box and I think four of the five I’ve scored have come in the box, so it was nice to see that hard work paying off.

“The squad is really taking shape. We have a lot of players, a lot of good players and that is good. You don’t want to be playing knowing that regardless of how you do, you will probably play the next game.

“You want that competition for places and there is the right balance there now.”