Paul Heckingbottom: Milutin Osmajic transfer stance & Preston North End state of play

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom says Milutin Osmajic is ‘not for sale’ at this stage of the window.

The Lilywhites have picked up four points from their first two Championship games, with Osmajic scoring in both matches against QPR and Leicester City. This week, there has been reported interest from three top flight Italian clubs and Spanish Segunda Division club Deportivo.

Fresh reports from Italy state that Osmajic is not Lecce’s secondary target, after Charleroi front man Nikola Štulić. It’s highlighted that the club has funds to spend after the sales of Patrick Dorgu and Nikola Krstović, for a combined €60m.

Preston boss Heckingbottom, though, is not open to losing him this summer, nor expecting to. In Thursday’s pre-match press conference, he labelled half of the speculation reported as ‘nonsense’ and said there had been no offers received.

On the type of fee Osmajic would command with two years left on his deal, the manager said: “Well, have you seen what some of the players have gone for? He's not for sale. No-one's going to give us that, so he's not for sale. You pick a number, we've got to go and then find a player better than Milly, haven't we? So, if you're asking me, no...”

Heckingbottom added: “For me, he's a 20-goal-a-season striker playing in the Championship, definitely... 20-plus. That's how I see him. He thinks he should have already had more goals now. The good thing is he's getting the chances, which is great. So, yeah, I think he is and how he's started the season, he's just reinforcing that.”

With regards to potential incomings at PNE, Heckingbottom is not expecting anything before Saturday’s home clash against Ipswich Town. Last Saturday, he explained how the names of three transfer targets had been given to the club, with the hope of signing two of those. One of those is no longer on the cards.

“Yeah, one of them's changed,” said Heckingbottom. “Listen, we could go and get a player in, but if they're not going to help us, it's pointless. So, like I said, I think we've got to be as clever and as diligent as we can possibly be when we're bringing the players in.

“I think we have been and I'm really pleased with how hard we've worked and what we've done, but I stand by what I said. I think these last 10 days will have a big bearing on how well we do throughout the season.”

One player who has been linked with PNE in recent days is Everton midfielder Harrison Armstrong. The former Derby County loan man was on the bench for the Toffees in their opening game at Leeds United.

Preston’s midfield is fairly stacked at present, with Alfie Devine and Jordan Thompson added to it this summer - though the latter is currently out injured, along with Brad Potts. With that in mind, are PNE in the market for another midfield player?

Heckingbottom said: “Everywhere where we can get good players. Listen, I think midfielder, attacking players, centre-forwards, that's ideally what I'd like to get.”

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