Preston North End keeping close tabs on defender's Sheffield Wednesday loan with an eye on next season

The centre-half has played a dozen games for the Owls who are challenging for a place in the League One play-offs.

Only two of those have ended in defeat, with the South Yorkshire outfit in seventh place – a point behind Sunderland who are now managed by former PNE boss Alex Neil.

Storey was allowed to leave Deepdale on loan in late January, having not featured since Ryan Lowe’s arrival.

But the door was not closed on a return this summer, North End wanting him to get a run of first-team football and assess things from there.

Although it is in the division below, Storey’s form has been impressive and that has been noted by PNE officials.

He had lost his place in the Preston side at the end of October, having had a long run of matches playing on the right side of the back three.

It was Sepp van den Berg’s move from wing-back in the middle which edged Storey out during the last weeks of Frankie McAvoy’s reign.

That remained the case when Lowe took over in December, with Liverpool loanee Van den Berg having been impressive in the central role.

North End aren’t massively confident of hanging on to Van den Berg beyond the end of the season.

The Netherlands Under-21 international will have spent the best part of 18 months at Deepdale by then and stretching that to another season could be unrealistic.

That could open up a vacancy which Storey could potentially fill next season.

The 24-yeard-old is under contract at North End until summer 2025, having signed a new deal just four months before heading out on loan.

At the time of signing that, Storey was a regular in the side.

Meanwhile, the majority of the PNE squad are due back in training tomorrow having been given time off during the international break.

With a 17-day gap in the fixture list, the players were granted some holiday time by Lowe following the Luton defeat.

They will report back to Euxton to train tomorrow and Saturday, then on Monday will start the build-up to the clash with Derby at Pride Park on April 2.

Ryan Lowe on Jordan Storey’s PNE future.