‘Finally…’ - Paul Heckingbottom on Preston North End’s deadline day business
The transfer window closed on Tuesday.
Paul Heckingbottom will have been relieved that Preston North End completed two final pieces of business before Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.
North End signed striker Johnny Kenny from Celtic on a four-year deal for a fee which the Lancashire Post understands to be in the region of £3m, while midfielder Liam Gibbs also joined on a season-long loan from Norwich City.
Heckingbottom believes that Tuesday night’s result - a 3-1 loss to Bristol City at Deepdale - showed the need for a forward option like Kenny.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: “We lost five strikers in the summer,
We replaced Smudge [Michael Smith] with Jusef [Erabi], Jebbo [Daniel Jebbison], if you like, with Delano [Burgzorg], but Della likes to play off the side.
“So yeah, [we were] well short in terms of that, but Johnny would have been watching that today, licking his lips I'm sure.
“So really important, good business for the club. Young player again, we try to recruit young players.
“Our new signings so far have shown up well but we want more and more importantly we want the result.”
Asked if both are ready to be selected for Saturday’s Lancashire derby against Blackburn Rovers, Heckingbottom said: “Yeah. Johnny’s not played the minutes. Liam has, he played in the cup for Norwich, which is good. They will be straight involved.
“You can see, there’s a necessity. Each game we've played we've added a player or added two players and it’s been important, but the window's closed now. We've done our business and we've got the group together finally.”
Reports of interest in bringing back Alan Browne and Cameron Archer had been strong in the days leading up to the deadline, but Browne remains at Sunderland and Archer has joined French side Auxerre on loan.
Fulham striker Jonah Kusi-Asare was also linked with a move to PNE.
Throughout the summer, Heckingbottom has refused to be drawn into publicly discussing players who have been linked with the club but are on someone else’s books.
However, it seems that the PNE boss ends this window satisfied with the business his side have conducted.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: “We’ve had to make a lot of changes, a lot of players out, and we said all along it wasn't about numbers.
“We didn't need a bigger squad. We don't need to fill 25 [spaces], we don't. We need to replace as well as we can, the threats that have been lost.
“The problem is, when you do take in loans and you're developing players and [they] move on, you feel like you’re starting again, so I think what the club's done really wisely is invested in a lot more of our own younger players.
“I think that's important for the future because the only way that we grow and we start competing is if we all succeed together and do well, or some of the players outgrow us and we cash in on it and then we reinvest it.”