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EXCLUSIVE: What impressed Pirates about ex-Burnley striker

Orlando Pirates recently had former Burnley forward Tremaine Eastmond training with the team on trial and, with indications that he has impressed, KickOff found out more about his profile.

Eastmond was spotted training with the Buccaneers recently and it's understood that he had an assessment for about two weeks, where he impressed the technical team led by Jose Riveiro.

The 20-year-old is a product of the Burnley academy and featured regularly for their U18s in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.

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However, after being promoted to the U23s, which serves as reserves for the first team in the Premier League, Eastmond could not get minutes, and therefore sought greener pastures.

The English striker's arrival in the country was via Cape Town Spurs, where he had an assessment. However, this publication has been led to believe the Urban Warriors were too occupied with their relegation battle and Eastmond could not get a proper look-in from head coach Ernst Middendorp.

"He can play anywhere in the front three, I see him not as an out-and-out striker, maybe as a right winger or left winger or a false nine that can drop in-between," a source, who has seen Eastmond at training, revealed to KickOff.

"He's a sort of a tricky, skillful winger, crossing the ball, good first touch, nice player. He's quite small, he's got a slight frame, so he's not ready to get into physical battles and stuff, but he's nippy, he's got a good technique.

"In the small-sided games he impressed me, I didn't have to see him in a full game. It's hard to tell obviously how that translates into football games, but from what I saw in the finishing drills and small-sided games, he looks good hey," the source added.

"He played a couple of friendlies at Spurs but when Spurs were in the relegation fight he didn't really get a chance to establish himself.

"I've only seen him in a couple of friendlies but more so in small sided games which sometimes you can see more in a player when he's getting more touches, he's good, he can put the ball in the back of the net, that's for sure," added the source.

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Indications are that Pirates have invited Eastmond to come back for their pre-season training after he left their training base and is back home in England.

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