Graham Alexander shares update on Preston North End's Greg Docherty pursuit

Graham Alexander says Preston North End have yet to make a decision on signing Greg Docherty but he will continue to train with the first-team after impressing so far.

With injuries mounting for Alexander, he revealed last week that Preston were ‘looking at’ a possible free agent signing to help bolster his squad.

It emerged on Monday that Docherty had been identified as that possible signing, with Alan Nixon reporting the 30-year-old midfielder had trained at Euxton.

Speaking on Wednesday ahead of facing Stoke City at the weekend, Alexander explained the club’s current stance on signing him.

He told BBC Radio Lancashire: “He's in training with us. He's been here this week. He's someone who was put on our radar.

”I’ve just had a good chat with there about the rest of the week but he's fit, he's experienced, good footballer, knows the level, been part successful teams.

“It was just a case of him coming in, having a look at us. We’re having a look at him and we'll see how it progresses.”

When PNE will make decision on Docherty

Alexander explained that Docherty will continue to train at Euxton ‘for a few more days’ before a final decision on signing him is made.

“We've got one space in the squad to potentially fill. We have got a few injuries, we're trying work out exactly who will be back before the window in January.

“So we, if we do have to add any more players, we might have to think outside the box a little bit.

“But while we have an opportunity to maybe add to the squad, it's our responsibility to try and do that, and Greg especially comes with a real good body of work behind him.

“He's not been training with a team since the end of the window, but he's kept himself in great shape. Just did a fitness test, this morning, before training and blew it out of the water. So, yeah, he looks in good shape.

“He's been a captain. He's been a promotion winner, he's got a voice, he's got experience. He's still got hunger.

”Before he came in we didn't make any promises. We just said: ‘Look, come in, and we'll have a look you,’ and he was like: ‘That's enough for me.’

“And it tells you a bit about his character that he's he's backing himself.

“We had a really good chat there because he sees this as a top club, at a great level and he’d love to be a part of it, but we're just gonna wait a few more days to see a little bit more of him.”

The manager continued: “It's not a question of his quality or anything like that, but when you haven't trained with a club or you left, we all have to keep proving ourselves all the way through our career.

“So it was just a case of that really. But I think he's come in with an open mind.

“I think he's he's fitted into the group really well. I think he already knows maybe four or five players already.

“But the way he's competed this week, he looks like a proper competitor as well.

“I think any good player that we can add to the squad is worth it for us. So we'll see how the rest of the week progresses, but we've been really impressed with him so far.”

Why Greg Docherty is a free agent

Unlike most free agents, Docherty was not released at the beginning of the summer when his contract expired, but instead had his contract mutually terminated with Charlton Athletic before the transfer window closed.

Addicks manager Nathan Jones explained that game time would be extremely limited for the then-captain this season, with the club making signings in his midfield position.

Jones said: "The tough thing is, we want to evolve, we want to improve on every level and it meant that Doc’s game time was probably going to be more limited than he wanted. We had open conversations around that and felt that this was the best way forward.”

Alexander stressed the important of any potential recruit being fit enough to make an instant impact and, as a result of the time of his departure, Docherty underwent a full pre-season with Charlton and has got 90 minutes under his belt this season in a Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

Discussing the possibly of signing a free agent, Alexander told The Post: “Yeah, we've sort of spoke about that this week in particular actually.

“Looking at who's potentially available, if they can come in and help us, potentially.

“The problem you've got there is you're probably bringing in players who are not at the level fitness wise to help us in the short term.

"Unless they've been training with a team consistently or with the PFA and stuff like that.

"That's the information we're trying to find out right now."

The combative Docherty has over 400 appearances to his name in his career and Preston are short on midfield options with captain Ali McCann and loanee Liam Gibbs out injured.