Striker Tezgel will get Crewe chance - Bell

Emre Tezgel has made 15 appearances for Crewe and scored four times

Crewe manager Lee Bell says on-loan Stoke City striker Emre Tezgel is a "great credit" to his parent club and will get a chance to stake a claim for a regular starting place with the Alex.

The 20-year-old is with Crewe for the season and scored his fifth goal for the club in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Liverpool Under-21s in the Vertu Trophy.

That followed Tezgel's hat-trick in a 7-1 demolition of Chesterfield in their previous game in the competition.

"We all know the reputation he's got, Stoke expect big things of him, and he's probably not had the minutes he would've wanted," Bell told BBC Radio Stoke.

"He's a great lad. He's a great credit to Stoke how he carries himself, how he communicates how he's feeling, doing extra work, there's no issue."

Emre Tezgel became Stoke's youngest first-team player when he made his debut in an FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient as a 16-year-old in January 2022

Despite his exploits in the cup competitions - Tezgel's other goal came in Crewe's 3-1 defeat by Stockport in the Carabao Cup in August - 10 of the striker's 12 league appearances have come from the bench.

"He will be frustrated and, if he is, he's hidden those very well and been ultra professional," Bell said.

"Because I've always told him 'your opportunity will come'. He's a good player and highly thought of. He's going to have a really good career."

With Josh March likely to be unavailable for a number of weeks because of a hamstring injury, Bell said there is now a chance for Tezgel - and others - to seize their opportunity.

"His application to training has seen a massive improvement in recent weeks in his numbers and with Josh not being available for a while, it'll be down to him and Moulty [Louis Moult] to try to cement a place in the team," Bell said.