'Our job is' - Paul Heckingbottom reinforces Preston North End transfer view amid player sale stance
The January transfer window will soon be open for PNE
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom assures he’s not desperate to get anyone out of the door at Deepdale.
The January transfer window is on the horizon and it will be Heckingbottom’s first full window as PNE boss, having been appointed in late August. While it is not the optimal window for business, North End are expected to be active.
Attention and focus will be on incomings but outgoing deals could well get done too. A host of players are in the final year of their contracts at Deepdale and some will move on in the summer. It was recently hinted, too, that Preston may look to shift on players contracted beyond 2025. But, the PNE chief insists he is not pushing for exits.
"There's no need for me to be moving players on," said Heckingbottom. "I don't want a big squad. If we can get players in then it would be at the expense of some of our players, but I am not looking to move players on. There is no-one here I am unhappy with, have a problem with or who I think is holding us back in any way. So, there's no drive from me to be actively pushing players out."
North End’s out-of-contract list is interesting in the sense it is difficult to predict who Preston will want to keep - and who will want to stay. It’s been suggested that four or five players will most likely leave, with at least three sticking around. Heckingbottom isn’t particularly wary of their being too much squad churn at once, either.
"Again, it depends on what you think you can do and bring in," said Heckingbottom. "Our job is to not be weaker. I said to Peter (Ridsdale) the other day that you never get your 'Plan A'. It just doesn't happen. The ideal is where you know you can get a player in and it's one in, one out in what you perceive to be strengthening the squad.
“It doesn't work that way so yeah, listen, I just see it as an opportunity to change in the summer. It is not a necessity to change as much as possible. There is an opportunity to try and improve the squad, improve what we are doing and that is the big thing.
“But like I say, I am not sitting here now - and I am not lying to you guys - saying: 'We must do this, we must do this, because this is not good enough and this is not good enough'. I like how the players have responded, but your job is always to try and get better all the time."