Left winger is a priority for PNE

Preston North End's left-wing will be a priority area in their transfer activity during the coming weeks.
North End new boy Simon Makienok is challenged by PNE skipper Tom Clarke last season when he played for CharltonNorth End new boy Simon Makienok is challenged by PNE skipper Tom Clarke last season when he played for Charlton
North End new boy Simon Makienok is challenged by PNE skipper Tom Clarke last season when he played for Charlton

After adding Danish striker Simon Makienok to the attack and with another striker potentially on the wanted list, the Lilywhites see the need to provide the forward line with some decent service.

Centrally, they have Paul Gallagher and Daniel Johnson pulling the strings creatively.

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The wings need some attention though, especially down the left where the services of loan players Adam Reach and Callum Robinson have been lost.

Reach is someone North End would like back but they are very much in Middlesbrough’s hands.

Boro want their home-grown winger to train with them in pre-season before deciding whether to include him in their Premier League squad.

So that timescale does not exactly work in PNE’s favour as they look to get the bulk of their incoming business done well in advance of the transfer deadline.

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They have other options should waiting for Reach not prove viable.

On the right-wing, Chris Humphrey is back from injury but there might yet to attempts to bolster that side too.

There has been an interest in Southampton’s Lloyd Isgrove but nothing has materialised from that to date, bar an enquiry last month.

The 23-year-old spent much of last season on loan at Barnsley, the Oakwell club interested too in taking him in a permanent deal.

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The need for strengthening out wide is to try and help address last season’s shortage of goals in the league.

North End netted 45 times in 46 Championship games but still finished 11th.

Last week, Makienok was signed on a year’s loan from Sicilian club Palermo – he spent last season at Charlton.

It is hoped that his addition will give PNE something different up front, far more of a physical presence with him standing 6ft 7ins.

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Jermaine Beckford and Joe Garner could benefit from having someone to hold the ball up and take the knocks.

For spells last season, Garner played as a lone central striker and had to shoulder a lot of the physical pressure from opposition defences.

Makienok is the only the sixth player who North End have signed on loan from a club outside of the UK.

Iain Anderson was the first in 1999, the Scotttish winger joining from French side Toulouse before later making the move permanent.

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United States striker Brian McBride came from MLS side Colombus Crew in 2000.

In 2002, Icelandic midfielder Thordur Gudjonsson joined from Spanish club Las Palmas.

Claude Davis and later Omar Daley were borrowed from Jamaican club Portmore United, centre-half Davis going on to make his move a permanent one.

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