Big squad turnover by Preston North End in the last two transfer windows

In January eight incoming deals were struck and eight were done in the summer window which closed on Tuesday night.

The beat-the-deadline swoops for Josh Murphy and Ali McCann were the sparks to ignite the excitement of the North End faithful.

Murphy was landed on a season’s loan from Cardiff, with McCann purchased for a seven-figure fee from St Johnstone.

The figure is believed to be around the £1.2m mark and according to the Saints has the potential with add-ons to break their record received fee of £1.75m.

In the two windows in 2020, Scott Sinclair and Emil Riis were the only arrivals.

Sinclair came in January 2020 from Celtic, Riis in that strange late summer/early autumn window.

The approach at Deepdale changed this January as the squad got an overhaul.

Big names went out in Ben Davies, Ben Pearson and Darnell Fisher.

Eight players came in, with six of them still here – Daniel Iversen, Sepp van den Berg and Liam Lindsay returning over the summer.

In the cases of Iversen and Van den Berg, they’ve come back on season’s loans, while Lindsay turned his loan into a permanent move.

Until last knockings on Tuesday, their company in the Deepdale arrivals’ lounge had come from Izzy Brown, Matt Olosunde and Jamie Thomas.

Injuries to Olosunde and Brown have meant we’ve not been able to assess their impact on the squad.

We should see Olosunde at some point after the international break but the wait for Brown will be until early in 2022.

Thomas we have seen fleetingly as he adapts to the demands of full-time football.

Murphy and McCann should hit the ground running at Deepdale, Murphy arriving from Cardiff with bags of Championship experience.

This will be McCann’s first experience of English football after being at St Johnstone all of his career.

But the 21-year-old has played international football for Northern Ireland and comes to Preston on the back of a big season with the Saints.

They were double Scottish Cup winners, the FA Cup victory entering them into the Europa League qualifiers last month.

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