Decision time looms for the Preston North End players who are out of contract this summer

The Lilywhites play their final game of the campaign at Nottingham Forest on Saturday and once that is done and dusted, decisions regarding next season will be taken.

There’s plenty to do at Deepdale this summer, with McAvoy himself waiting to see if he lands the head coach job full-time after being interim since March 21.

On the playing staff, PNE have Billy Bodin, Louis Moult and Paul Gallagher from the current first-team squad out of contract next month.

The list was shortened recently with Ched Evans and Greg Cunningham signing two-year deals after initially being on short-term contracts until the end of the season.

McAvoy said: “What will happen is that we will have individual meetings with all the players after the final game of the season.

“That will happen early next week and hopefully everything will be sorted and it will be clearer for everybody.

“Then we can decide what is happening with them going forward.

“To be fair, that structure has always been there and we will continue to do that.”

Asked specifically about players coming to the end of their contracts, McAvoy said: “At the moment I think they will have a fair idea in terms of where roughly they are.

“I think everything will become clearer after the game on Saturday.”

Gallagher, 36, has been on McAvoy’s coaching staff for the last seven games.

Just once was the midfielder named on the bench in that time, with him an unused sub at Swansea.

Bodin and Moult have both been hit by injury in their time at North End which puts big question mark against them being here beyond the summer.

In the Championship, 29-year-old Bodin has been limited to just one start this season – on the opening day – and three sub appearances.

Knee surgery kept him out of action over the winter, with the winger missing the whole of the 2018/19 campaign after tearing his cruciate ligament.

Moult, 28, was sidelined from August 2019 through to last month after an ACL rupture.

He made the bench against Swansea and Brentford but hasn’t made the matchday squad since then.

David Nugent, Josh Ginnelly and Graham Burke, who are out on loan at Tranmere, Hearts and Shamrock Rovers respectively, are out of contract this summer and will be released.

The remainder of the first-team squad are all under contract beyond the summer.

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