Preston North End are certainly getting business done now during this transfer window, with Ryan Ledson becoming the third player in recent days to sign a new deal at Deepdale.
Midfield is certainly a position of strength for PNE with Ben Pearson, Paul Gallagher, Daniel Johnson, Ryan Ledson, Alan Browne, Tom Bayliss and Brad Potts all capable of playing in the centre of the field. With such depth in this area, it means that the 23-year old was limited to just 17 games in all competitions last season.
However, his showings towards the end of the 2019/20 campaign – he averaged a 6.8 WhoScored rating over the course of his last six games of the season, including a 6.97 rating in North End’s 2-0 win over Birmingham – have proved to many that he will eventually be a regular first-team starter for the club.
Many have him pencilled down as the future replacement to Paul Gallagher when he eventually hangs up his boots, while some believe he is likely to replace Ben Pearson when he inevitably moves on to new pastures.
Ledson joined Preston from Oxford in 2018
The new deal then comes as good news for us. To tie down Ledson to a new deal (this extension sees him agreeing to play at Deepdale until the summer of 2023) is another shrewd piece of business from the club, as he will arguably play a pivotal role for the club in the future.
He joined the club from Oxford back in 2018 to much hype from North End fans. Although he’s since not featured too much – he featured 80 times for Oxford but has still only played 45 games for us in the same amount of time – he has increasingly stepped in and performed when needed and it’s been enough to prompt North End fans to rejoice upon the news of him signing a new deal.
With the announcement of this new deal, he becomes the third to agree an extension after Paul Gallagher and Seani Maguire both also extended their current Preston contracts.