Dave Seddon's PNE pressview: DJ is Preston's talisman

Daniel Johnson is Preston North End’s player of the year, top scorer and assist king.
Daniel Johnson celebrates scoring for Preston this seasonDaniel Johnson celebrates scoring for Preston this season
Daniel Johnson celebrates scoring for Preston this season

I would argue that the midfielder has moved up a bracket in priority of renewing his contract too.

For me, he is up there with Ben Pearson and Ben Davies in terms of getting their futures tied down.

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As the clock ticked towards summer 2020 and the high number of PNE players reaching the final year of their current deals, Pearson and Davies were always the main two talked about, Alan Browne to an extent as well.

Johnson’s contribution in 2019/29 has shown how key he is at Deepdale.

This season started with Wigan picking up the phone and asking about taking him down the M6 on loan.

Thankfully the conversation was a short one, North End knocking back the enquiry before ending the ball.

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Johnson didn’t get further than the bench on the opening day at Millwall but was in the side to face Wigan the following week.

Pushed forward into the No.10 role, he was excellent in a 3-0 win over the Latics and has stayed in the side since – injuries aside.

A dozen goals, seven assists – the last of those at Bristol City in midweek – and player of the year awards from the supporters and his team-mates, underlines how good his season has been.

DJ missed a chunk of games through December and into January, North End losing their way at the end of the year.

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One wonders with his craft and imagination, whether they might have picked up a few more points with him available?

Like a number of his colleagues, Johnson is now in the last year of his contract and surely high on the list for talks over a new one.

Having been here since January 2015, this is clearly a club he is settled at.

Alex Neil had worked with him long enough to spot that Johnson could fit into that attacking midfield role.

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His argument for not doing it before a lot was that he would be looking to take the ball into the space where Callum Robinson operated.

So although sad to see his best pal in football leave last year, Johnson benefited from Robinson’s exit.

Significantly, Neil has entrusted the captain’s armband with Johnson a couple of times recently.

That is a show of trust, a recognition of leadership quality as well as footballing talent.

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It was no surprise to see Johnson presented with the two player of the year awards earlier in the week.

Pearson, Davies, Patrick Bauer and Declan Rudd would no doubt have got plenty of votes but Johnson was the stand-out.

A dozen goals was a very decent amount, never mind that half of them were from the penalty spot – you can’t argue with a six out of six success rate can you?

For North End to have made the top six, it needed someone else to be ahead of Johnson in the scoring stakes.

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His 12 goals backing up a number higher into double figures, was what was required.

As it was, Johnson was three goals better off than Tom Barkhuizen who was second highest.

Touching back on his contract situation, it took quite a while a couple of years ago to agree the deal he’s currently on.

Let us hope things aren’t as dragged out this time and it is his football we are again talking about soon.

Likewise with the other contract talks in the pipeline.

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As well as DJ, Pearson, Davies and Browne, those now in the last 12 months include Darnell Fisher, Josh Harrop, Sean Maguire and Paul Huntington.

Even more immediate is Paul Gallagher’s situation, the short-term deal he signed last month being to cover the finish of this season.

Neil spoke a couple of times in the week about the importance of retention.

Rather than a rebuilding job, he went the foundations of many of the current squad in place and then to add to them with more quality.

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The preference Neil mentioned post-match at Bristol City was two or three new faces to add to what it already in the dressing room.

It’s not an exact science but it is along the lines of what he wants.

Can North End hold on to those they want to keep?

Who knows. Football’s finances aren’t in the healthier of condition at present due to the pandemic, in line with many businesses.

Will Premier League clubs want to take a punt on higher end Championship players?

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Is there any serious cash knocking around in the Championship for clubs to go shopping on their own doorstep?

It is goals a lot of teams go looking for and PNE have twice lost goalscorers in recent windows in the shape of Robinson and Jordan Hugill – albeit for very good money.

They could ill afford to lose Johnson’s 12 goals this time, hence the hope his contract doesn’t run down much further.

While North End’s final game at Bristol City was a dead rubber in terms of what was riding on it, the rest of the Championship went bonkers on Wednesday.

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Brentford losing at home to Barnsley was a stunner, as was Nottingham Forest losing 4-1 at home to Stoke and falling out of the top six for the first time in months.

The way things turned out justified the Championship being played to a finish rather than positions being decided on points per game as happened in Leagues One and Two where there wasn’t the money to continue.

I must say these last few weeks have been strange in terms of covering games.

From a personal point of view it was good to be back at football grounds covering matches but the environment was strange to say the least.

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Behind closed doors was a means to an end to get this season finished and might be for a few weeks to get the 2020/21 campaign going.

But the time when fans are back in grounds can’t come a moment too soon.