Preston North End skipper Alan Browne signs a new three-and-a-half year contract at Deepdale

The midfielder was in the final six months of his previous deal and could have walked away for nothing at the end of the season.

But months of negotiations finally came to a successful conclusion with him putting pen to paper on the deal which makes him the highest paid player at the club.

The same terms were offered to Browne, Daniel Johnson, Ben Pearson and Ben Davies but there's been no breakthrough with the other three.

Browne signing-up will delight the PNE faithful, with the Irishman a firm fans' favourite - the 'Baluga' song in his honour ringing out from the supporters on many away days until the lockdown.

He told the club's website: "I have been here a long time and it is such a relief to get it over the line and have a few more years of me being at this fantastic club and hopefully we can make the next coming years successful.

“It is time to take the next step with my career. I had different opinions from different people and I wanted to gather as many opinions as I possibly could I felt that this was the right decision for me and hopefully I can progress with my own career, as well as with the football club."

It's been some rise for Browne at Deepdale since signing from Cork City for just £10,000 seven years ago.

He had only played for Cork's Under-19s when PNE were tipped off about him and made their move.

After a short spell training with North End in late 2013, Browne signed in January 2014 and made his first-team debut two months later.

He now has 273 appearances under his belt in all competitions, scoring 35 goals.

This season, Lilywhites manager Alex Neil appointed Browne as club captain.

At international level, the 25-year-old is now an established regular in the Republic of Ireland squad and has 11 senior caps.

Negotiations over this new deal were tough and have taken some months.

In recent years when Browne had signed new contracts, he'd negotiated them himself. But over the last year, he's had an agent working on his behalf.

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