Preston North End, Cardiff, Coventry and Plymouth transfer target confirms summer exit

Brighton midfielder Marc Leonard admits he will be 'sorry' to leave Northampton, amid reports of a possible move to Preston North End.

The 22-year-old has been linked with a move to Deepdale over the last 18 months and in the summer he will depart Sixfields. He has been at the club for two separate loan spells but given clubs in the Championship have registered their interest then his next move is likely to be to a higher division.

Leonard is under contract at Brighton until the summer of 2025 but seems unlikely to break in to the Seagulls first team. He could potentially make a permanent move away from the Sussex club given the reported interest of Preston, as well as Cardiff City, Swansea City, Plymouth Argyle and Swansea City. League One promotion hopefuls Portsmouth have been linked too but they aren’t expected to sign him according to our colleagues at The News.

"I’ll be sorry to go,” said Leonard to sister website the Northampton Chronicle. “It’s been a blast. It’s been so good. I couldn’t have asked for much more from the staff, the players, the fans, everybody. It's felt like home ever since I first came here and I’ve really enjoyed it.

“It’ll be sad when I do go. That feeling of overachieving and being ambitious at this level is credit to the manager and the staff and that was a huge factor in my decision to come back at the start of the season.

"The club had that ambition that we wouldn’t go up against any team in this league and hope for a point or play for a draw. It was ‘right, we’re going here to get three points and we want to climb the table’. It was never about just surviving, we always wanted more and we still haven’t reached our target this season.”

Leonard has made 93 appearances in all competitions for Northampton across two loan spells. He has registered seven assistsand six goals, helping them to promotion from League Two last year whilst helping them achieve safety this campaign.