It’s been a week of outgoings for Preston North End, with two players confirmed to have found new clubs after their contracts with us expired.
As for new incomings, it’s a rather familiar name who is being linked with a potential switch to Deepdale.
Anyway, here’s a summary of the North End going-ons this week.
Josh Ginnelly Seals Permanent Switch to Hearts
Josh Ginnelly had a rather successful loan spell at Hearts last season before an injury ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. Despite only featuring a handful of times, he clearly made quite the impression and the Scottish side have been all too happy to sign him on permanent terms now he is available on a free.
The winger will join the club officially when his deal with us expires and our former head of recruitment Joe Savage was happy to be reunited with a player he called ‘young, hungry and extremely talented.’
Ginnelly only featured six times for us despite joining in 2018. Instead of playing for us, he spent more time on the sidelines and then out on loan with Bristol Rovers and Hearts.
It’s a shame, as having joined us as a young 21-year old he wasn’t really given the chance to have much of an impact for us. We never really gave him a proper run in the side or helped him develop and having impressed for Walsall the potential looked like it might have been there.
With other players ahead of him in the pecking order though, it was always going to be a struggle for him to get into the side. Over at Hearts though, he is finally flourishing once more given the chance to shine. Although only a small sample size, the winger has managed four goal contributions in six appearances so far – that’s an average of 1.41 goals every 90 minutes for the Scottish side so far.
We wish Ginnelly all the best in his move.
‘King’ Louis Moult Finds New Club in Burton Albion
Another player who also struggled to get a regular run in the side – but certainly had an impact on PNE by providing us with some superb moments during his time here – is Louis Moult. He too has struggled with a long-term injury, which ruled him out out for over a season.
It meant that he didn’t feature once for North End in the 2020/21 season and only played twice in 2019/20.
In fact, when you look at his playing time for the Lilywhites, he’s only started 13 games over four seasons at Deepdale. Despite that, he still managed to bag seven goals and one assist along the way. In fact, he had a total of 15.1 90 minutes during his stint at PNE – and it’s arguable that given more time, he might have been able to produce even more.
Injury has prevented him from having as much of an impact as he would have liked but there is no doubt he knows where the back of the net is, having also found it frequently for Motherwell and Wrexham before us.
He hasn’t been given a new contract with North End despite only missing out through injury but he has managed to find a new side already, with Burton Albion in League One snapping him up on a free transfer when his deal with us comes to an end.
The striker is sure to bag goals in the third tier, so the Brewers have a solid signing in Moult and again, we wish him all the best at his new side.
Surprise surprise…Josh Windass Linked With North End Switch Again
There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and Josh Windass being linked with a move to Preston North End when the transfer window opens.
Only last season, the player was rumoured to be on his way to Deepdale only for him to make the switch to Sheffield Wednesday instead.
Now, with the player reportedly on his way out of the Owls already, The Star is claiming that several Championship sides are in the running to keep the 27-year old in the second tier – and one of those is Preston North End.
Although we aren’t the frontrunners – that honour falls to Millwall, who has apparently made an official bid – we are seemingly in the pack to try and bring him to Deepdale again.
In 35 starts last season, the player managed to produce 14 goal contributions s there is no question that Windass is adept at this level and knows what it takes to break through opposition defences and find the back of the net. He is also not afraid to test the goalkeeper, something that could be beneficial to us next season too.
He might be available on the cheap too – the Owls might be willing to do a cut price deal and he only moved to the club for a reported six-figure fee when he originally moved too. He could then, be worth going in for.