Oxford United boss says deal agreed with Preston North End for Stanley Mills - but he won't leave yet

Oxford United boss Aaron Ramsey says Preston North End have agreed a deal with the club for winger Stanley Mills - but he is set move to Deepdale in January.

Mills has been heavily linked with PNE for a number of days and it has been recently reported that there were hold-ups in the deal, partly owing to Oxford being under a transfer embargo, which means any registration of new players is not allowed.

Now, Oxford manager Aaron Ramsey has told the media this afternoon that the U’s are keeping their whole squad this summer, and that Mills will stay at the Kassam Stadium until January, when he is set to move to North End.

He told BBC Oxford Sport: “The statement has been pretty clear, that we’re retaining our squad. We’re going to need every single one of them, with the situation we’re in and we can’t bring anybody in. So, yeah, we’re going to need everybody available for that.”

He continued: “[Mills] has agreed a deal to go to Preston in January and, listen, it’s far from ideal, I can totally understand that, one day before the beginning of the season.

“What it does mean is we get Stan now for the next four, five months, and then when January comes around, we’ll be in a completely different position where we can be really aggressive in the market and we’ll have to strengthen our squad.”

Mills was named as Oxford’s Player of the Season in the 2025/26 campaign, which saw them relegated from the second tier, recording three goals and four assists. He joined the U’s permanently in January 2025 from Everton, having previously played for them on loan between July 2023 and January 2024.