Preston North End striker Jayden Stockley is a player in demand

The Lilywhites have fielded plenty of enquiries about the striker who impressed playing for Charlton Athletic on loan in the second half of last season.

Stockley scored eight goals for the Addicks as they fell agonisingly short of making the League One play-offs.

He clearly caught the eye in that division, with the interest in him now coming from clubs in the top-half of League One.

At this stage the interest has yet to turn into firm bids but PNE expect that to change this month in the run-up to the start of pre-season training.

Stockley, 27, is thought to favour a full-time switch to Charlton due to the fact he settled in well there and they showed faith in him in taking him to London in January.

There are other clubs in the hunt though, who have their attractions.

North End should be able to get a decent fee for Stockley who has a year remaining on his contract.

While the EFL won’t be awash with transfer cash this summer after the pandemic, it is strikers who tend to attract the money and Stockley has shown he knows where the net is in League One.

He 6ft 3in frontman joined PNE from Exeter 30 months ago in a £750,000 deal.

Stockley scored nine goals in the Championship in 21 starts and 44 substitute appearances.

He was unable to nail down a regular run of starts under Alex Neil and had gone to Charlton when Frankie McAvoy took over the helm from Neil.

Interviewed towards the end of the season at Charlton, he reasoned that a run had never come his way.

Stockley cited an example towards the end of the 2019/20 season.

He said: “That run of games at Preston never came unfortunately.

“I scored in back-to-back matches against Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest then found myself back on the bench for Brentford.”

PNE have work to do in the transfer market to bolster their frontline this summer.

If Stockley moves on, he will join Louis Moult in leaving the forward line.

Ched Evans, Emil Riis and Sean Maguire are North End’s out-and-out strikers, with Tom Barkhuizen and Scott Sinclair able to play up there.

McAvoy started all eight games of his interim tenure with two up front.

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