Alfie Devine's impending arrival at Preston North End shows serious ambition - and will push both parties on
Excitiing times ahead for Preston North End.
For years, those associated with Preston North End - internally and externally - have looked at the money being thrown around by other Championship clubs with envy.
Alfie Devine’s prospective move to Deepdale will be, by a considerable distance, PNE’s most expensive transfer - and it could spell a big change in how they are viewed in the transfer market.
For weeks, things have been fairly quiet at North End; understandably so. The reported ongoing talks between the club and businessman Amr Zedan over a potential takeover have meant that those at the top of the club have stepped away from the limelight. With less public communication comes the increased concerns of fans, so it will be of huge relief that this deal looks to be all but done.
There have been many times before when, after a successful loan spell, PNE have tried to re-sign players - whether that has been on loan or permanently: Cameron Archer, Tom Cannon and Aiden McGeady to name a few. North End, on all those occasions, lost out to Championship rivals and sought other targets.
However, this time, it’s different. The Lancashire Post understands that Devine personally pushed for a move to PNE ahead of his many other suitors: Wolves, Southampton, Burnley and - outside the Championship - Celtic, who offer the prospect of European football. The North End fan base fell in love with Devine last season and it’s now clear that the feeling is very much mutual.
Those aforementioned clubs have huge ambitions: to win titles, to win promotion... and for them, £6 million will be a drop in the ocean. For Devine to turn down proposals from teams that have spent the majority of the past 10 years in the Premier League, in favour of PNE, feels seismic.
The future of Devine and a potential takeover felt, in May, like they would be the two defining topics of the summer. It would be understandable if fans believed that news of progress on the ownership front would follow, however PNE say that all funds from this deal are coming from the Hemmings family.
Nevertheless, whatever the future holds at the top of the club, this signing is a potential game-changer, a catalyst. Everyone who saw Devine play last season will have every reason to believe he can play at the highest level. If North End can guide him down that exciting path, then other young players will undoubtedly look at PNE as an ideal place to develop their football on a permanent basis.
This deal would see PNE’s record transfer fee almost triple. That, in itself, shows how significant this is. Since their promotion, PNE’s success in the transfer market has often been through identifying free transfers and loans - and when North End have spent transfer fees, it has usually been from leagues below and, more recently, abroad, from which they have acquired the most talent.
The additions of Odel Offiah and Andrew Moran last season signalled an intent to return to signing players from the top flight, but this is a huge statement of ambition.
PNE boss Paul Heckingbottom has already identified major developments that Devine made during his loan spell last season, while setting him challenges for the future.
Last December he said: “Listen, I like Alfie. I like him a lot. I like him as a lad, certainly as a footballer. I still want to challenge him to be better. He's got fitter. Little things I want to change about everything he does... I think he's looked stronger the last three games.
“More and more, little things we do after games: how he recovers, how he prepares. This is a big jump. Like I’ve said, I saw lots of things in his last loan last season [2024/25] which I liked and thought, ‘Yeah, it would be great if we could get Alfie’.
“But this league's totally different to where he was playing last year. He felt that and he realises that. But I know the last three games there, 90 minutes, 90 minutes, 90 minutes, he’s looking stronger as the game's gone on. He's adapting and he's doing the things that's required to give yourself that chance to be able to perform.”
He added in March: “I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him, as good as he’s played, I don’t. I think there’s more to come. He needs pushing but with that as well, you need to understand, he’s played a lot of minutes in this league and it’s tough.
“You’re a young boy, you have peaks and troughs, but where we need to get him is in that consistency of performance because he’s got the ability, he’s got the brain, and he’s got the talent to affect the games on the pitch.”
Devine joining PNE on a permanent deal allows both parties to push on and develop together, and marks the start of a new chapter for both.