Preston accept mystery Callum Robinson bid; North End must show intent

The news we’ve been expecting has just broken; Preston have accepted a bid for Callum Robinson.

North End have today announced that a mystery Premier League club has moved for Robinson, with their bid accepted. Robinson has left the club’s training camp in Ireland to complete his move.

The deal is of course subject to agreeing personal terms and completing a medical, but they shouldn’t be an issue.

Robinson, 24, hit 12 goals and three assists last season, despite missing four months of the campaign. With just 12 months left on his deal, Robinson was always expected to leave.

Anybody saying Robinson is overrated, or isn’t a big miss, is quite frankly wrong. He’s developed into a creative and dangerous winger, possessing the ability to past a man, shoot with either foot, drive at defences and – most importantly – provide end product.

Few will begrudge Robinson his Premier League move. He cost North End £170,000 from Aston Villa three years ago, and the fee involved in his sale should be in excess of £7million. That’s a huge profit for Preston, but it’s what happens next that’s key.

North End have brought in just one signing so far this summer. That was Patrick Bauer on a free transfer. Some may believe that Preston have been held back from spending funds until Robinson’s expected move went through.

Now we’ll see whether that’s the case. As our most potent attacking player, we can’t simply think we can get by without him. Josh Ginnelly is the only other natural left-sided winger, even if Seani Maguire can play there.

Money must be spent on a replacement. The best teams in this division show intent when they lose a player; Brentford caught wind of Ezri Konsa’s release clause being activated by Aston Villa, so bought Pontus Jansson. They heard of Celtic’s interest in Romaine Sawyers (Daily Record), so landed Mattias Jensen. The same goes for selling Daniel Bentley and getting in David Raya.

The Bees have got it spot on, in terms of replacing their key players with considerable intent. That’s what Preston must do here – we cannot have a repeat of the Jordan Hugill situation. We sold him to West Ham for big money, and it took a year to replace him with Jayden Stockley for a tenth of the income.

We compiled some potential replacements here. The onus is now in Preston to make sure quality recruits are landed with the cash, especially with fans gutted at Robinson’s exit.