Preston North End once thrived with raids on Premier League reserves but that recruitment route now looks very difficult.
Cast your mind back to 2015 and a very, very important signing.
PNE were faltering a little in January 2015 and pounced to snap up Daniel Johnson from Aston Villa.
Johnson had impressed on loan at Oldham Athletic and Chesterfield before heading to Deepdale in a deal that cost a now-famous bargain price of just £50,000.
The Jamaican playmaker was instrumental in helping PNE win promotion from League One and he has now spent almost eight years at North End.
PNE had taken a look into the Premier League reserve market and got an absolute bargain – so they did it again.
Liam Grimshaw and Ben Pearson arrived from Manchester United’s reserve setup in January 2016, before Callum Robinson turned his loan move permanent that summer.
PNE secured bargains for all of those players, and whilst Grimshaw wasn’t a huge success, Pearson and Robinson were outstanding.
Both players became Championship stars and Robinson was even sold for huge profit in 2019 after a £170,000 arrival.
Fans have been left wondering why North End don’t really go down that route now and Peter Ridsdale has explained the reasoning.
We went down to the fan meeting at PNE’s Euxton training ground earlier this month and the minutes from that night can be viewed here.
Ridsdale tackled the question of not signing Premier League reserves anymore and quite simply, the market has changed.
Ridsdale noted that the expectations in terms of transfer fees and wages are much higher than even five or six years ago, ruling out those kind of signings now.
There may be some nuggets out there but they can be difficult to find.
Burnley secured a low-cost move in CJ Egan-Riley but the former Manchester City talent has only played 19 minutes of Championship action this season.
The Clarets also paid £3million for Arijanet Muric, showing that first-team signings usually cost a fee that PNE can’t quite afford.
It’s a shame to see this recruitment avenue slow down for North End as it has brought major quality in the past but Premier League clubs can price PNE out now, so we can absolutely understand the club’s stance here whilst hoping that some gems emerge down the line.