Preston North End have contract work to do – starting with Jordan Storey

Jordan Storey will be towards the top of the queue for a new deal when Preston North End start contract negotiations over the summer.
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The central defender had a strong second half of the season, holding down a place after being in and out of the team before that.

Storey is one of 13 players who will soon be going into the final year of their contracts at Deepdale.

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Securing extensions with some of that number with be on PNE’s to-do list over the coming weeks.

Preston North End defender Jordan StoreyPreston North End defender Jordan Storey
Preston North End defender Jordan Storey

Patrick Bauer, who missed the second half of the season recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, is among that group of players.

So too first-team regulars Tom Barkhuizen, Andrew Hughes, Brad Potts and Scott Sinclair.

Storey, 23, had a difficult first half of the campaign but did not look back after getting a recall for the 2-1 derby win at Blackburn in February.

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He played every minute of every game from then on, a run of 18 matches.

Frankie McAvoy going with a back three for the last seven of those certainly helped Storey find some consistency.

Speaking recently, Storey said: “My season was a mixture of good and bad – I’d be doing alright and then I wasn’t.

“Gradually towards the back end of the season I grew more consistent. We were picking up quite a few wins and clean sheets.”

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Asked why the first-half of the season was tough going at times, Storey said: “It was strange one which I couldn’t put down to anything.

“Any mistake I made I seemed to get punished for it by the opposition scoring.

“Fortunately I found my feet again and kicked-on.”

The others with 12 months or so to run on their contracts are Connor Ripley, Mathew Hudson, Joe Rafferty, Paul Huntington, Jayden Stockley, Jack Baxter and Ethan Walker.

Stockley and Walker are just back from loan spells at Charlton and Carlisle respectively.

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Baxter is on loan until the end of June with Cork City, the League of Ireland season running from March through to the autumn.

Of all the players who went out on loan, Stockley was the most successful in terms of game time.

The big striker made 20 starts and two appearances from the bench for Charlton, scoring eight goals.

Stockley was close to getting more games, with the Addicks only just missing out on a place in the League One play-offs.

Before the end of his loan spell, Storey told reporters in London that he would be open to a permanent move to Charlton.

He had only started four PNE games in the first half of the season.