Aston Villa striker Cameron Archer is hoping for a January loan move but a return to Preston North End looks very unlikely.
The Birmingham Mail report that Archer is looking to leave Villa Park for a loan spell after barely featuring this term.
Archer, 20, has played just 44 minutes of Premier League action this season and just eight minutes in the EFL Cup.
Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins are ahead of him in the Villa pecking order whilst Leon Bailey is now being used as a striker under new Villa boss Unai Emery.
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Archer needs football and Villa may well allow him to go out on loan during the January transfer window.
Now, we know what everybody is thinking – does this mean Archer can return to Preston North End?
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PNE took Archer on loan for the second half of last season and he was outstanding, bagging seven goals in 20 appearances.
Ryan Lowe spent much of the summer hoping for a deal which would see Archer return to Deepdale but it didn’t happen.
Villa rejected North End’s approaches and chose to keep Archer – only to barely use him.
There are a couple of problems for North End though if they do want to bring Archer back.
The first is that Archer signed a new contract over the summer and is on much bigger wages, with PNE possibly struggling to pay a major contribution.
The second is that pretty much every Championship club will now want to sign Archer on loan.
Many of those clubs will be in position to offer better wage contributions and loan fees.
You can be sure that teams chasing promotion will be racing to sign Archer in a bid to secure a Premier League spot.
Our rivals Burnley may be one of them having shown an interest in signing Archer over the summer.
It feels like the Archer to PNE ship has sadly sailed but a heroic return to Deepdale in January would be the perfect window in itself.