According to Pete O’Rourke, Preston have failed with a loan move for Aston Villa striker Keinan Davis.
North End need to find a striker in the next 24 hours. We’re desperately short of firepower, and Alex Neil doesn’t have the all-round striker he needs at the top of the pitch.
Sadly, it’s dreadfully quiet right now. There’s no sign of Preston finding new signings, and a new striker will be difficult to obtain before tomorrow’s deadline.
Now, O’Rourke claims that Preston did make a move for Aston Villa’s Davis. However, the loan bid was rejected, with Villa also snubbing Fulham, Huddersfield Town, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City.
Davis, 21, has only scored three goals in 44 games for Villa, but struggled with a groin injury for much of 2018. Now Villa are in the Premier League, it seems unlikely that he’ll get much playing time.
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However, Villa are seemingly keen to keep Davis – or at least until they can sign another striker before the deadline. That’s interesting, as the LEP claimed in June that Preston were denying any interest in Davis.
It may be that Davis’s name came up when North End were in talks with Villa last week. Davis’s teammate Andre Green has joined North End on loan, but Davis seemingly won’t be joining him.
That’s a blow as Davis has presence and a little more mobility than Jayden Stockley, potentially fitting what Neil wants – even if he’s not a natural goalscorer.
There’s still time to try again for Davis, but it looks like he won’t be heading to Deepdale – and it’s now imperative that another attacker is found ahead of the deadline.