‘An exciting time’ - new Preston North End man on joining the club on loan
He joined on loan from Norwich City earlier this week.
Liam Gibbs is enthusiastic about spending this season on loan at Preston North End.
He made the temporary switch from East Anglia on Tuesday in the final hours of the summer transfer window.
As soon as he found out about the possibility of the move, Gibbs was eager to get it sorted.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: “I think at the time there was discussions going on about whether I should go out on loan or not.
“Once it was agreed and all parties were happy then I was looking for a club where I could go and really sort of kick on, get some minutes and go and compete at such a good level which I was currently playing at in the Championship.
“So, I wanted to go and find that if I could and then when it came about that Preston was an option, it was one that really sort of pricked my ears up and I was interested to go and see what it was about and how we would sort of move it forward.
“As it did, it was a really sort of exciting time for me now to come in, meet everyone and really get going.”
Gibbs was deployed in many positions at Norwich, especially at the end of last season, but manager Paul Heckingbottom sees him in that natural midfield role.
“I've played lots of positions at Norwich, played as a full-back, left, right, played as a winger as well on both sides so I have done all of them roles but I would see myself mainly as a midfielder.
“I can get box to box, I've got a lot of energy, a lot of legs, speed and I can use that in the middle of the pitch.”
He added: “[Heckingbottom] told me that he does see me as a midfielder and wants to use me in that role.
“Obviously lots can happen in a season, I could be used elsewhere as well and that's just the way that things go, but he wants to use me in that midfield role and just sort of get the best from me to be able to help the team and also help myself as well so it's a two-way thing, we can all help each other.”
Gibbs is excited about the possibility of making his debut this weekend at Deepdale against Blackburn Rovers, the team Norwich were playing when he scored his first career goal in April 2023.
“It'll be really nice to go out there as a home player in front of the fans,” said Gibbs, “and hopefully on Saturday I can get my first involvement in front of them and give them a good performance against Blackburn as well, which was my first goal, so hopefully another one of them!
“I've been hearing about [the derby] as well so it should be a good atmosphere and I'm really looking forward to it.”
He added to the Lancashire Post: “I've been speaking to a few people just to really get a feel for what it’s about because you don't want to go into it without knowing everything that it means to everybody.
“It's obviously an important game for the fans and for everybody at the club. We want to put in good performance, get a result and it'd be really nice to go and get that first win that we're all looking for against the rivals.”
Despite a disappointing start to the league campaign, Gibbs says that, on first impression, there is plenty of optimism and good feeling around the squad.
He told the Lancashire Post: “I think everyone knows that we wanted more wins from the first few games but they will come.
“I think as long as we keep buying into everything as a team and we're all sticking together it's looking promising.
“All of the lads are sticking together, there's no bad energy, no bad atmosphere.
“Everything's still really positive and we all believe that we're going to be able to get that first win and then things will start kicking on from there.”