Preston North End are set to snap up Manchester City striker Liam Delap after he was recalled from his loan spell at Stoke City.
That’s according to The Telegraph’s John Percy, one of the most reliable sources around English football.
Percy claims that City have decided to pull Delap away from Stoke despite agreeing to send him there for the duration of the 2022-23 season.
City are immediately loaning Delap out again and have allegedly agreed to send him to North End for the rest of the season.
Delap, 19, was built up as being the next big thing at City, with the loan move to Stoke being viewed as a major coup for the Potters.
This season hasn’t quite gone to plan for Delap though, scoring just three times in 23 appearances for Stoke.
Delap has been in and out of the side under Alex Neil so City now want to get him some more game time at PNE.
As soon as reports broke earlier this week suggesting that Delap was on his way out of Stoke, we wondered if North End could strike.
PNE showed a real interest in taking Delap on loan from City back in the summer of 2021 but no deal was done.
Fast forward 18 months and it looks like North End have finally landed their man in what is hopefully a major boost to Ryan Lowe’s striking options.
Everton hitman Tom Cannon arrived earlier this week and Troy Parrott has been ramping up his return from injury.
Yet with Seani Maguire still out, Emil Riis facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Ched Evans now nursing an injury and Cameron Archer joining Middlesbrough, PNE needed this boost.
Let’s hope Delap can get back on track and hit the goal trail with PNE, who will now have to juggle three loan strikers in Delap, Cannon and Parrott.