Preston North End may face a real battle if rumours surrounding a January move for Hammarby defender Nathaniel Adjei are true.
If there is one area we would expect PNE to focus on in the transfer market in 2024, it’s in defence.
Greg Cunningham and Patrick Bauer will both be out of contract at the end of the season and seem unlikely to land new deals as things stand.
Andrew Hughes has been somewhat injury-prone of late and PNE will surely move for a few defenders in January or the summer…
Preston North End linked with Nathaniel Adjei
One surprise name emerged on Sunday with The Sun’s Alan Nixon claiming that North End are attempting a deal for Hammarby defender Nathaniel Adjei.
Nixon claims that Hammarby want around £3million for Adjei, which is likely out of PNE’s range after spending on Mads Frøkjær-Jensen and Milutin Osmajic.
North End were allegedly looking into a loan deal with an option to buy, maybe seeing Adjei as the kind of player who can aid a promotion push.
The Ghanaian centre back isn’t really a household name outside of Sweden but has been impressive for Hammarby.
Adjei, 21, would represent an exciting addition for PNE but more and more suitors are beginning to emerge.
Leeds United in the race to sign Adjei
Fotboll Direkt in Sweden now report that Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland are all interested in signing Adjei.
This may be the work of agent trying to drum up even more interest in Adjei ahead of the January transfer window.
If true though, PNE may find it difficult to beat clubs like Leeds and Middlesbrough, who have bigger budgets and more pulling power.
Those moves aren’t always what they are cracked up to be though; Adjei would surely receive plenty of first-team football at PNE and be able to continue his development with regular games.
Whether that would be the case elsewhere is another matter and PNE may well pitch that case to Adjei ahead of the January window.