Preston North End new boy Scott Sinclair ready to face former club at Deepdale

The Lilywhites play host to Swansea City at Deepdale and it was with Saturday’s opponents where his career really got a kick-start.

Sinclair joined the Welsh outfit from Chelsea in August 2010 for £500,000 having had six loan spells away from Stamford Bridge.

His Swansea debut actually came against PNE, that an afternoon to forget at the Liberty Stadium as the home side won 4-0.

The winger spent two years in South Wales, firing a hat-trick in the play-off final as Swansea were promoted at the end of his first season.

He scored 27 goals that campaign and the following season netted eight times in the Premier League.

Sinclair played the first game of the 2012/13 season for Swansea – and scored – before a £6.2m switch took him to Manchester City.

Sinclair, 31, joined North End earlier this month and has three appearances under his belt.

His debut came as a sub at Blackburn, with him then starting the wins against Charlton and Barnsley.

In the Barnsley game he was used as a striker as Alex Neil went for a change of approach.

North End manager Neil said: “Scott has done well so far and he will only get better the more games he plays.

“We eased him in the game at Blackburn because he’d only played once in three months before that.

“He got 90 minutes against Charlton and then did well in the Barnsley game.

“Scott is a clever player and gives us something different.”

Sinclair has been North End’s only signing to date in this transfer window.

The window shuts at 11pm on Friday and it remains to be seen if there will be anything else incoming.

With it having been a quiet window in general, it might need movement elsewhere for things to busy up.

North End fans see another striker as a missing piece in the jigsaw, with most clubs around them thinking along the same lines and trying to shop in the same limited market.

In terms of outgoings, Chris Maxwell is the one player to have left Preston on a permanent basis, with his contract cancelled by mutual consent to allow him to join Blackpool on a deal until the end of the season.

Nine players are out of loan, including Josh Earl, Josh Ginnelly and Connor Simpson at Ipswich, Bristol Rovers and Accrington respectively in League One.

Youngsters Jack Baxter, Ethan Walker, Adam O’Reilly and Jack Armer are playing non-league football to gain senior experience