Preston North End new boy Patrick Bauer is a well-travelled footballer

The 26-year-old has played in three countries and North End are his fourth club.

Stuttgart was Bauer’s first club in his native Germany, then the centre-half moved to play for Maritimo in the Portuguese league.

Four years in London with Charlton came to an end last week when he signed for North End on a Bosman.

Bauer’s time with Maritimo involved plenty of travelling – a plane journey to every away game.

Maritimo are based on the island of Madeira which is more than an hour’s flight from the mainland.

Bauer told the Lancashire Post: “I was at Maritimo for three seasons and it was a nice place to play.

“They are on Madeira and most of the clubs in Portugal are on the mainland.

“There was only one other club on Madeira who we used to play, so all the other away matches we flew to.

“I enjoyed it there, it was nice to enjoy the sun and go swimming in January.

“That isn’t something you get to do in many countries.”

Bauer, 26, was North End’s first signing of the summer when he agreed the switch to Deepdale.

He’s signed a three-year deal and will join his Preston team-mates for training on Thursday at Springfields.

Looking back at the path his career has taken so far, the big German said: “I started off playing in my home town.

“When I was 14 I went to Stuttgart in their academy.

“By the time I was 18 I hadn’t been involved in the first-team very much and I wanted to go to a club where I was playing.

“I moved to Portugal with Maritimo.

“They were in the top division and it was a good move.

“I played the first year-and-a-half in their second team and then got into the first-team.

“After three seasons with Martimo I joined Charlton and spent four happy years there.”

Bauer got a warm welcome from North End fans on social media when his signing was announced.

His first public outing is set to be in the annual friendly at Bamber Bridge on July 6.

Said Bauer: “Hopefully I can have a good season and help the team do well.

“I received a lot of positive messages from the Preston supporters when I joined.

“It will be really exciting to see the supporters when we start playing the matches, that will be good.”