With Preston in a strong position right now, there will be calls for some spending in January.
North End sit second in the Championship table, and if Alex Neil maintains a top six place by January, new additions will be wanted. Having that extra bit of quality could give Preston a boost in January, and our winter transfers have often been better than the summer ones.
Joe Rafferty, Ben Pearson, Daniel Johnson, Brad Potts, Billy Bodin, Tom Barkhuizen and Jayden Stockley have all been January signings in recent years, so keep an eye out for similar business.
What’s interesting though is that The Guardian have this week published a feature on North End, and there’s a fascinating line in there about Preston’s transfer plans.
It’s stated that North End have ‘already identified next summer’s transfer targets’, seemingly planning way in advance, beyond even January.
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This past summer, it often felt like North End were unprepared. It started well with Patrick Bauer, but David Nugent seemed like a spur-of-the-moment signing, whilst Andre Green and Tom Bayliss haven’t featured much yet, with Bayliss at least showing some forward planning.
It’s an interesting line though, because it may suggest that there aren’t current plans in place for major reinforcements in January. Alternatively, it may be that Preston also know their January targets, but are planning even further down the line.
We don’t even know what division Preston will be in next season, so these plans assumably factor in the possibility of promotion, but it seems that Peter Ridsdale and Alex Neil are getting their plans in place to ensure 2020 is a great year for North End.
