Jordan Hugill stays on quiet transfer deadline day for Preston

With the Lilywhites having stood firm in the face of a transfer request from their striker earlier in the week there was to be no late dash for his services on Thursday.

Reading and Wolves did not follow up their interest, Birmingham also having made two bids earlier in the window, as North End themselves watched the madness unfold elsewhere.

There were no new additions to Alex Neil’s squad but an out-of-favour pair did depart, one temporarily and one permanently.

Eoin Doyle joined League One Oldham Athletic on loan until January, having been the subject of plenty of interest, and Liam Grimshaw ended his time at the club by moving to Scottish Premiership side Motherwell on a free transfer.

Lilywhites chiefs had also hoped to get Ben Pringle a move for some much-needed first-team action but nothing came to fruition as the day progressed, meaning the midfielder will have to stay and fight for a place.

Having rejected an £8m bid from the Royals at the end of last week, issuing a statement on Tuesday insisting Hugill would not be sold at the end of the window was a strong stance to take and it ultimately did the trick.

Knocking back what would have been a club-record sale and also turning down offers for Greg Cunningham and Callum Robinson earlier in the summer, means the club have successfully kept their emerging squad together despite plenty of admiring glances from elsewhere during the transfer window.

The club did investigate doing a deal or two before 11pm last night but despite saying he would like to add to his squad last week, Neil is understood to be happy with the options at his disposal moving forwards.

Targets were explored but with the right deal not on the table, the Lilywhites decided not to sign someone for the sake of it, having picked up eight points from five games against some of the top sides in the Championship in what has been a promising start to the season. In total it means six new additions were made in the summer window.

Declan Rudd, Josh Harrop, Sean Maguire and Kevin O’Connor were all brought in prior to Neil’s arrival, while Arsenal loanee Stephy Mavididi and Rotherham full-back Darnell Fisher were brought in under the new manager’s watch.

Doyle heads out on loan having not been in any match-day squad this season, while former Manchester United youngster Grimshaw made just eight appearances in total for PNE.