Patrick Bauer has settled into life at Preston North End very quickly

Alex Neil is pleased with how summer signing Patrick Bauer has settled in at Deepdale.
Preston defender Patrick BauerPreston defender Patrick Bauer
Preston defender Patrick Bauer

The German centre-half joined PNE on a Bosman last month when his contract at Charlton ran out.

North End manager Neil was keen to add experience to the defence and Bauer has so far lived up to what Neil wants from him.

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Neil said: “Patrick is a man, he is 26 and he’s not come here to give people high fives.

“He is here to do a job and do it well for us.

“Patrick is very much part of the team now, one of the lads and very much involved.

“He’s very determined to show everyone what he can do here and I think he has started pre-season very well.

“These are early stages for him but you can see what he can bring to us.

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“When we played at Fylde last Saturday, I thought his performance was good.

“Some of the fade he was putting on the balls he played down the channels was very good, that was pleasing.”

Neil has five centre-backs competing for places – Bauer, Ben Davies, Jordan Storey, Paul Huntington and skipper Tom Clarke.

At the moment, Clarke is more an option to play as a right-back in the absence of Danell Fisher.

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For the second half of last season, the Storey/Davies pairing was Neil’s first choice.

They won three player of the year awards between them, although Storey’s form did dip towards the end of the campaign – perhaps due to a touch of inexperience more than anything.

Bauer brings that bit more know-how gained from four years at Charlton and the 
previous three years playing in Portugal’s top flight with Maritimo.

To date, Bauer is Preston’s only confirmed signing. 
However, David Nugent’s move back to Deepdale is not far off being done – his agent being away has meant a slight delay in completion.

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The search is also on in the transfer market for Callum Robinson’s replacement.

Robinson, 24, was sold to Sheffield United last Friday.

It is believed North End are looking for someone to play in a wide attacking role, similar to where Robinson preferred to operate.

While he did sometimes play more centrally, more of his goals and creativity came in the wider role.

It is not necessarily an out-and-out winger they want, more of a player who can move inside from wide areas in the manner Billy Bodin does, for example.

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Josh Harrop has been used in that role on the left during the friendlies, coming inside on to his right foot.

So too Josh Ginnelly who is more about pace and getting past defenders, playing as a traditional winger.