Preston North End head into 2022 with a large squad which needs cutting down, especially if Ryan Lowe wants to add his own players in the January transfer window. Currently there is no room for any extra additions.
Josh Harrop, Jamie Thomas, Connor Wickham and Izzy Brown are on the books but not in the 25 man squad. Injury has affected the majority of them, but we are unsure if they will have any part to play this season.
Lowe will run the rule over everyone including the younger players pushing for a first team spot like Adam O’Reilly and Joe Rodwell-Grant.
There are others though who are probably just past their sell by date at North End, and they would probably wish to move on as well in search of first team football.
Joe Rafferty
Rafferty arrived at the club from Rochdale in January 2019, and was thought to be at least second choice for that position, with Callum Johnson at Accrington Stanley at the time, a preferred target. Rafferty found it tough at first, getting sent off away to Wigan Athletic over Easter didn’t help matters. He wasn’t an improvement on anything we had, and was clearly just going to be a back-up.
His second season saw him become a more versatile player, capable of playing on the right or left of defence, and he got the nickname ‘Rafu’ for his impressive crossing ability. Unfortunately he always had an error in him though, and was on the wrong end of a few penalty decisions or own goals.
Our current set-up sees us play with wing-backs, and he would find Tom Barkhuizen, Alan Browne, Sepp van den Berg and Matthew Olusunde ahead of him in the pecking order. Time to move him on if we can, and I’m sure they’ll be a few decent League One clubs interested in him.
Josh Harrop
It does pain me to say it as I think there’s a great player in there and we’ve all seen it. Great goals against Sunderland in his first season, and Charlton Athletic and Blackburn Rovers in 2019-20 come to mind as times when he has shown his creative brilliance. A bad injury in his second season with us knocked him back, and an unproductive loan spell with Ipswich Town last season did little for him.
Now in his fifth season with us, he hasn’t kicked on as we would have liked. He arrived as a 21-year-old in a £600,000 deal fresh from scoring on his debut for Manchester United. Now 26 he will be disappointed with his career so far. His first and third seasons with us were good. He scored eight goals in the latter, but was rarely ever given a consistent run in the starting 11 by Alex Neil. I certainly wouldn’t be against him returning to the squad and being given a chance, but if Lowe wants to bring his players in, Harrop is one who would be on a decent wage and could make way.
Connor Ripley
This is a much easier one to explain than the other two. His transfer hasn’t worked out at all. Connor Ripley will turn 29 in February; an age where a goalkeeper should be reaching the peak of his career. So far Ripley’s peak came around 5-6 years ago with impressive loan spells at Motherwell and Oldham Athletic.
He was brought in to compete with Declan Rudd but simply hasn’t. He has been very error prone in many of his 10 games for the club. A game in the FA Cup against Norwich City comes to mind in particular as it was a utter horror show. With Daniel Iversen now ahead of Rudd, and Matthew Hudson there to compete as well, Ripley should be moved on.
His contract is up next summer, but if the club can get some sort of fee for him in January it would suit all parties. He enjoyed a loan spell with Salford City in League Two earlier this season, so may have a few suitors in that league.