Preston North End boss Ryan Lowe has admitted that he actually wanted to sign striker Liam Delap over the summer.
PNE have today confirmed that Manchester City striker Delap has joined the club on loan until the end of the season.
Delap has been recalled from his loan spell at Stoke City with City now sending him straight out again.
North End have swooped to sign Delap, securing him on loan until the end of the season.
The 19-year-old has been given the number seven shirt at Deepdale and could feature against Norwich City this weekend.
PNE signed one striker on loan earlier this week with Tom Cannon arriving from Everton.
Yet with Ched Evans now joining Emil Riis and Seani Maguire on the treatment table, North End have secured another forward option in Delap.
Highly-rated at City, Delap was expected to be something of a goal machine when he joined Stoke City on loan over the summer.
That didn’t quite happen for the teenager as he managed just three goals in 22 Championship appearance.
With Delap in and out of the side under Alex Neil, City have decided to scrap his loan with the Potters and send him to North End.
This is a major boost for Ryan Lowe and his attacking options as PNE look to sneak into the playoff place.
Lowe has spoken about Delap’s move and told North End’s official website that a deal for Delap was actually targeted over the summer.
Stoke won the race then but patience has paid off for Lowe and co, who have swooped in quickly to sign Delap after hearing City were recalling him.
“Liam was one we targeted in the summer because of the work he’d done with City’s U23s and he had some input in the first team with a couple of goals, too,” said Lowe. “With him being called back now we felt it was important to make our move, and I’m really pleased we’ve got it over the line.”
”He’s a good lad, a good footballer and a goalscorer. He just needs an opportunity to score goals and hopefully we can give him that. Obviously we’re going to be without Emil [Riis] for a long period now too, so we felt we needed to bring an extra body into the building to continue the form we’ve had,” he added.