Preston North End's Patrick Bauer has a winning mentality and the statistics to prove it

Patrick Bauer comes across as a winner and that has certainly been the case for the Preston North End defender this year.
Preston centre-half Patrick BauerPreston centre-half Patrick Bauer
Preston centre-half Patrick Bauer

In 2019, the German has been involved in 22 victories in EFL games – the most of any player in the league.

Bauer was on the winning side 14 times for Charlton Athletic as they secured promotion from League One.

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And since his summer switch to Deepdale on a Bosman, the 27-year-old has played in eight league wins for PNE.

PNE defender Patrick Bauer gets to grips with Charlton striker Macauley BonnePNE defender Patrick Bauer gets to grips with Charlton striker Macauley Bonne
PNE defender Patrick Bauer gets to grips with Charlton striker Macauley Bonne

Ironically, the latest of those was in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Charlton at The Valley.

That was a fourth clean sheet he has helped North End keep in Championship action.

Bauer started the year as he meant to carry on, playing for Charlton in a 2-1 win against Walsall on New Year’s Day.

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On May 26, the centre-half scored the Addicks’ last-gasp winner in the play-off final at Wembley against Sunderland.

With his contract up in the summer, Bauer chose to make the move to North End on a free transfer.

The winning feeling came back to him in his second PNE game, a 3-0 victory over Wigan at Deepdale.

Bauer’s former Charlton team-mate, keeper Dillon Phillips, is joint second with Ipswich’s Oliver Norwood in the number of wins they have featured in – the pair played in 21 victories.

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For Norwood, some of those came for Tranmere in the second-half of last season.

Albert Adomah is next in the list with 20 league wins for Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

On the evidence of the first 15 league games, Bauer must be one of the bargain signings of 2019.

North End did a superb piece of business to land him on a free transfer, beating off competition from plenty of other clubs.

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It begs the question of what fee a centre-half at a top-end Championship club would be worth in the current market?

In the victory at Charlton, Bauer and Ben Davies picked up where they left off in terms of their partnership at the heart of the PNE defence.

Davies had missed the 3-2 win over Blackburn because of a sprained ankle sustained in the 1-1 draw with Leeds.

That was the first league game the pair hadn’t featured together.

During the second half, Davies was in the wars when he suffered a cut above the left eye.

He had to be bandaged up for the closing stages but will be fine for Saturday’s clash with Huddersfield.