Preston North End confirm departures of Daniel Johnson and Josh Onomah on free transfers

Johnson joined the club in January 2015, having a fast start since his now famous £50,000 move from Aston Villa and helping the club win promotion to the Championship. Since then, he has been a key figure in the North End side and became only the 28th player to reach 300 appearances for the Lilywhites.

According to a statement on the club’s website, North End have been in discussions with the Jamaica international since the end of the season, with Johnson informing them that he would not be renewing his deal.

Manager Ryan Lowe said: “We’re disappointed but DJ wants a new challenge.“I had a fantastic relationship with DJ and all the players did and I’m sure all the fans did too, but sometimes people want fresh challenges and that’s what DJ’s told us he wants to do, and we have to respect that decision.“He’ll go down as a legend at the football club and rightly so because he’s a very talented footballer.“It’s disappointing because of what he’s done here over the years and we’d have liked to have had a better send off for him, if this was going to be the case.“We’ve been in dialogue with him for a long time regarding him staying. We’ve done everything we possibly can to keep him, but we wish DJ all the best as he moves on to a new venture.”

Johnson’s departure is couple with Onomah’s. the pair similar in the way they approach the game. Both creative midfielders, something lacking in the North End squad, the pair are leaving a large hole in their former club.

Although the former has chosen to move on to pastures new, it seems that it was PNE calling the shots when it came to Onomah, who only joined the club at the end of January.

It took a while for the former Fulham man to reach near match fitness but he did shows flashes of what he could be capable should he get back towards his best, making 13 appearances, four starts.

With negotiations stalling over a new contract in recent weeks, Preston have decided to move on from the 26-year-old.

Lowe said: “We offered Josh a contract about a week before the season finished and we were in negotiations with Josh and his representatives.“Josh’s contact terms were agreed, but there’s been a lot of complications with the deal regarding if and when he could sign, which was out of our control.“Unfortunately we’ve had to move on to other targets because we just couldn’t wait any longer.“We wish Josh all the best and hopefully he gets back playing somewhere because he’s a talented boy, but we just couldn’t wait any longer in what was a difficult situation.”