'Never held to ransom' - Paul Heckingbottom's take on a Preston North End player refusing new contract talks

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom insists he has ‘no problem’ with a player not wishing to sign a new contract at the club.

This week, PNE director Peter Ridsdale spoke to the Lancashire Post and confirmed one squad member, who is out of contract this summer, does not want to open discussions and ‘will undoubtedly leave’ upon the expiry of their deal.

The Lilywhites’ out of contract list has been whittled down in recent weeks with Jordan Storey, Liam Lindsay and Andrew Hughes putting pen-to-paper on extensions. But, a handful of senior players are still set to be free agents in a few months.

The PNE chief has discussed contracts on plenty of occasions this season and always been relatively calm on the matter - insisting that players are well within their rights to do whatever they please.

Heckingbottom’s latest response remained along those lines, when asked if the situation could affect his team selection for the rest of the campaign.

“Everyone who's out of contract, it's up to the club to offer them a contract and it's up to the player to take one or sign one,” said Heckingbottom. “But with that comes a lot more freedom for us... and that's the way it is, that's part of it.

“The more relaxed about it we can be, the better we're going to perform. I think Peter (Ridsdale) already understands that my approach is you're never ever held to ransom over a player... never. We need three or four options all the time.

“And we go and pick the best one that fits... financially, the role they’re going to play, and that's it. But then likewise we then can't be critical if players want to do the same thing. It's part and parcel of football, you know? The contract is there, it should be honoured and that's it, that's as far as it goes. Yeah, it's fine with me, no problem.”