They may have dubbed him the mini-Pogba at Newport County, but teenage loanee Tyreeq Bakinson currently has his sights fixed on following in the footsteps of Bobby Reid into the Premier League.

Bakinson has made a massive impact over the first five games of his six month loan period at the Welsh League Two side and celebrated his first professional goal at Oldham at the weekend to keep County on an upward curve.

The 1-0 win took them level on points with top of the table Lincoln City and made it four wins in a row.

It means 19-year-old Bakinson has now got one over his former Bristol City team mate Reid in notching his first goal at his new club.

Reid made a £10m move to Premier League Cardiff City in the summer and still keeps in touch with Bakinson, 12 miles down the road from him.

Now, Bakinson hopes to find a way to bridge the three division gap between the two players.

“Bobby Reid was a good friend at Bristol and I congratulated him on his move to the Premier with Cardiff. He is still one of the pin up boys at the Bristol Academy,” said Bakinson.

“I hope I can one day follow in his footsteps. Any young player wants to go on to play in the Premier League because it is the highest league in the world.”

Last season Michael Flynn nurtured Ben White’s defensive talents to the point where his parent club, Brighton, gave him a three-year deal. Another Bristol starlet, Shawn McCoulsky, also benefitted from his season in League Two and Bakinson is one of three players from the Ashton Gate club who have followed in his footsteps.

It was fellow midfielder Mattie Dolan who christened Bakinson ‘the mini-Pogba’ following his efforts in steering County to second place in the table.

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French World Cup winner Paul just happens to be one of the Camden-born youngster’s favourite players.

“Pogba has just won the World Cup and is one of the players I look up to in the Premier League. He is a big influence on me, I really look up to him as a player, but I’ve got a lot of work before I get to his standard,” admitted Bakinson.

Having started his career with Luton Town’s U10s and after a glittering junior career he was given a three-and-a-half-year contract by manager Nathan Jones when he was 17.

He had been part of the Hatters’ youth team that won the EFL Youth Alliance South-East Division and League Cup double in 2016, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup.

He made his first-team debut as a substitute on the final day of that season against Exeter City and was offered a three-year deal by Lee Johnson at Bristol in 2017.

He made his debut in a 4-1 Carabao Cup victory over Crystal Palace.

But now he is looking to get regular first-team football in a bid to push his way into the Robins’ side when he returns after Christmas. It is a similar story for his Bristol Academy team mates Antoine Semenyo and Cameron Pring.

“When I spoke to Shawn McCoulsky about Newport he had nothing but good things to say about the club. When you come on loan all you want to do is play and I’m getting a lot of experience,” said Bakinson.

“I know I didn’t have a lot of games under my belt before I came here so it has been good to show the manager what I can do. It just hope it continues because I am definitely enjoying it.

“It is different from playing at U18 or U23 level because there is so much more on the line – three points, jobs. It is real, live football with a lot more on the table and a lot more to lose.”