Preston North End midfielder sets his sights on full fitness after knee surgery

The 24-year-old had a clean-up procedure on his knee last week and now his sights are set on being fully fit ready to start pre-season training in June.

Lilywhites manager Ryan Lowe revealed earlier in the month that Ledson would need surgery to get him back fully on his game.

Lowe had noticed that Ledson wasn’t ‘100%’ in matches or training, with the issue in his knee just holding him him back a bit.

While there’s always the temptation to leave operations until the summer, a longer-term view was taken with Ledson.

It was felt best to sacrifice him for the last few weeks of the season in order to give him the opportunity to recover from surgery and do his rehab work over a longer timescale.

Lowe didn’t also want any unnecessary risks taken with the player’s fitness.

Leaving the operation until the summer might have seen him somewhat against the clock in a bid to get back in time for pre-season which will start slightly earlier this year because of the 2022/23 campaign’s July kick-off – that down to the Championship taking a break in the winter for the World Cup.

Speaking before the international break about Ledson’s need for surgery, Lowe said: “I had noticed Ryan wasn’t 100% fit in training and games. We sent him to see the specialist and the specialist said he needed a bit of a clear-out.

"To be fair to him, Ryan wanted to carry on until the end of the season and have it done then. I said ‘no, let’s get it done now’.

"I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if Ryan had gone into a challenge and get a knock to make the injury worse, make his knee worse.”

The operation was a case of keeping on top of some historic wear and tear in Ledson’s knee, rather than it being a fresh injury picked up recently.

He’s started 18 games this season in all competitions and come off the bench nine times.

Ledson’s last start was the 0-0 draw at Millwall on February, with him having made made four substitute appearances since.

Contract issues for North End this summer