The end of the season is now in sight and Preston North End will be weighing up some key contract decisions ahead of the summer transfer window.
North End have one glaring contract situation to sort out with captain Alan Browne currently poised to leave for nothing.
Veteran duo Greg Cunningham and Ched Evans will be out of contract but their injury records mean extensions are up in the air.
Patrick Bauer is likely to leave when his deal ends this summer but Ben Woodburn’s future is anyone’s guess after a season of few starts but plenty of substitute appearances.
That is the first-team picture but there is also a decision to be made over Lewis Leigh.
The 20-year-old midfielder is out of contract at the end of the season unless PNE have an option in the deal which hasn’t been publicised.
Leigh is currently on loan at Crewe Alexandra and it was maybe a little surprising that North End allowed him to had on loan to League Two inside the final few months of his contract.
Leigh had impressed with National League side Bromley, managed by the father of PNE stopper Freddie Woodman, before North End sanctioned a new loan to Crewe.
PNE talent Lewis Leigh praised as contract decision looms
Leigh has had to battle for first-team minutes at Crewe and finally got through his first 90 minutes for the club on Saturday.
The midfielder started in a 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon and has now been praised by boss Lee Bell.
Bell told Crewe’s official website that he feels Leigh has been ‘exceptional’ in training of late and praised his attitude as ‘excellent’.
Bell feels that Leigh’s attitude will take him a long way in the game and can seriously improve with more playing time.
“I was really impressed with Lewis,” said Bell. “His attitude has been excellent. He’s bought into the group ethos and he has been exceptional in training. He’s been mature and brilliant with the other players, it would have been easy to go the other way.”
“His attitude will take the lad a long way in his career because you can see the obvious technical attributes too. I thought he played well and, hopefully, with more minutes under his belt, he can do even better,” he added.
This praise is great to see and PNE will soon have to come to a decision, one way or another, on whether to try and keep Leigh at the club.
Maybe North End wanted to see how he fared with the step up from National League to League Two before offering a new deal.
There was real buzz over Leigh in 2021 but that has fizzled out a little amid a lack of first-team minutes.
Leigh will have plenty to consider too.
Having been out and played men’s football at Bromley and Crewe, he will want to know that there is a pathway to first-team football at PNE.
If that isn’t on offer, few would really blame Leigh for chasing first-team action away from PNE as other EFL clubs will surely be paying close attention.
Leigh does seem to have potential but he and PNE now have to figure out if an extension is in everybody’s best interests as the summer window looms.