Preston North End now face a late battle with Middlesbrough over the signature of Everton striker Tom Cannon.
We are nearly at the end of the summer transfer window now and, mercifully, the end of the Tom Cannon rumours.
North End have been keen to re-sign Cannon all summer after a strong loan spell last season.
Cannon joined PNE in January and hit eight goals across 20 games during his time at Deepdale.
Fans have been desperate to see Cannon return and the summer has been full of rumours.
Cannon was spotted at Deepdale as PNE beat Aberdeen 2-0 in a pre-season friendly on July 22nd, setting tongues wagging with his mere presence.
We’ve seen everybody seemingly have an inside scoop on Cannon’s return yet here we are, two days from the transfer deadline and Cannon isn’t a PNE player.
The real frustration came when the Liverpool Echo reported earlier in August that Cannon was scheduled to be at PNE to finalise a loan return.
However, Everton scrapped that plan as they didn’t want to leave themselves short of strikers.
Portuguese hitman Beto has joined Everton, so the hope is that Cannon will finally join PNE – but there is another problem now.
The Sun’s Alan Nixon reports that Championship rivals Middlesbrough are now making a bid to buy Cannon.
PNE will struggle to fund a permanent move for Cannon and Boro may now swoop in after selling Chuba Akpom to Ajax.
That means Boro now have a real chance to pull off the signing of another striker PNE fans love.
In January it was Cameron Archer as he joined Boro on loan from Aston Villa, and now it could be Cannon.
Sunderland are also still keen on Cannon as Ross Stewart potentially makes a move to Southampton in the coming days.
North End’s hopes on Cannon seemingly been fading in recent days and it now looks like the Everton hitman will be going elsewhere unless PNE can pull something out of the bag.