"Never say never": Preston North End boss Alex Neil coy on transfers ahead of window closing

ALSO READ: Preston North End striker Sean Maguire back running as he steps up recovery from hamstring injury

Football League clubs have until 5pm tomorrow to do loan deals with many inserting a clause that will see transfers become permanent in January.

While Neil gave little away on potential incomings PNE are trying to shift some out-of-favour players.

Andy Boyle is being linked with a move to Scotland while Kevin O’Connor joined Crewe on loan until January on Wednesday.

Marnick Vermijl and Ben Pringle are also free to leave Deepdale.

“We’ll just need to wait and see what the next 48 hours brings,” said Neil.

“You can never say never in football, it’s such a strange game.”

Often towards the end of a window there is a frantic domino effect where one deal triggers several others.

Neil believes the clock is ticking when it comes to that happening around the country with clubs determined not to be left short.

“We’re getting to the stage where if it doesn’t happen by this afternoon then teams aren’t going to have enough of an opportunity to replace players,” he said at Thursday morning’s press conference at Springfields.

“At that stage the deal is going to fall over regardless.

“We were in the same situation with Jordan Hugill about a year ago where we got an offer but we couldn’t accept it because we didn’t have a replacement.”