Curle lauds Morton's quality and attitude - and reveals Cobblers tried to sign West Brom striker last season

The 20-year-old has five goals in eight appearances since joining on loan alongside Arsenal's James Olayinka towards the end of the January transfer window.

But he could have been playing for the Cobblers 12 months earlier had Curle got his wish. The Town boss pursued Morton on the final day of last season's January window but wasn't able to get the move over the line, with Marvin Sordell signing instead.

"Yes, we tried to sign him before the injury," confirmed Curle.

"He's somebody that's been on our radar for a while but I think there was a mishap on the last day of the window last year and it didn't quite happen."

Morton, who was on loan at non-league Braintree Town at the time, suffered a cruciate ligament injury shortly after Town made their move and was ruled out for nine months.

He only returned to full fitness at the end of 2019 but has quickly got up to speed with the Cobblers, much to the delight of Curle.

"I'm not surprised he's settled so well because he's a very grounded young man," added the Northampton manager.

"He missed eight or nine months with an injury but he's got real determination and hunger to make up for lost time.

"He doesn't get fazed by anything and his parent club are a very, very good football club and his ambitions are to play at that level.

"That means he can't afford to waste any time and that's the attitude we saw in Callum when we first met - he wants to play, he wants to score goals and he wants to do well.

"He wants to be in an environment where he feels valued and also play in a team that wants to win games of football."

Curle also believes Morton is ideal for the way Cobblers want to play, as evidenced by his goal return which would have been even higher if not for several missed chances

Curle continued: "You get some centre-forwards that are quite happy to be getting one or two chances a game because they're in a possession-based team, but Callum has come here and understands that we will create opportunities for him to score goals.

"We get the ball into the final third and that's music to a centre-forward's ears because we're looking to play forward and you know at any given time the ball could come into the box, which is excellent for a striker that thrives on scoring goals.

"The disappointment for him is the chances he missed against Walsall because he could be sat here with seven goals in six starts."