Preston North End register transfer interest in ex-Sunderland man amid fierce competition
The winger spent the second half of last season at Millwall
Preston North End have expressed an interest in Brighton winger Tommy Watson, the Lancashire Post understands.
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The Lilywhites face another important summer transfer window and will seek attacking reinforcements, after losing last season’s cohort of loan stars. PNE’s management team of Paul Heckingbottom and Stuart McCall have spoken about bringing wide players to the club, and Watson would tick that box.
The 20-year-old is thought to be of interest to a handful of other Championship clubs, so North End would face strong competition for his signature. Watson came through the ranks at Sunderland and scored the winning goal in the 2025 play-off final. He was then snapped up by Brighton for a reported £10million.
He has three years left to run on his contract with the Seagulls, having made 10 appearances and scored one goal for the club so far. On February 1, he signed for Millwall on loan but only two of his 12 outings were from the start - and the wide man didn’t feature in either play-off match against Hull City.
Watson has represented England at every age group from under-17s to under-21s. Preston were credited with interest in the winger back in January, along with Stoke City, Derby County and Bristol City. This summer, Birmingham City have been mentioned as suitors with it reported that Brighton will sanction another loan exit.
Captain hails PNE’s loan record
Speaking at the end of the season, Ben Whiteman said: “I think if you look at the loan signings that we've had over the past three or four years... Parrott, Alvaro, Sepp van den Berg, Delap. If you want to send players to anywhere, I think you've got to look at what we've done over the past three or four years for young lads. I think we've been brilliant.”
Preston have got the timing right with a lot of their latest loan successes. Lewis Dobbin, Alfie Devine and Kaine Kesler-Hayden all had previous loan experience under their belts before joining PNE, and subsequently impressing. Daniel Jebbison and Sam Greenwood - like Watson does now - also had first team experience in the tank.