PNE signed three players in the January transfer window and saw four leave
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom discussed the latest transfer window in depth at his latest pre-match press conference.
The Lilywhites boss views Brighton midfielder Andrew Moran was a replacement for Mads Frokjaer, who was signed by Brondby. Those two deals were wrapped up on transfer deadline day along with PNE’s capture of Callum Lang from Portsmouth, for a ‘club record fee’.
North End were not able to get Harrison Armstrong back on loan from Everton. David Moyes had kept the idea open all month but decided against it after his side’s draw at Brighton. Below, Heckingbottom reflects on that and where it leaves his North End squad, along with plenty else.
On his midfield now looks with no Armstrong or Thordarson...
“Yeah, Andy's different to them,” said Heckingbottom. “Tthey were more eights. Yeah, fine. Listen, if we'd seen an eight who added more, we would’ve done it but there was no-one. Rather than just collect a body, Jordan, Ben, Ali were the three who played the other day - more than capable of playing those roles. Alfie plays there a lot for us, or we just play with two. So yeah, fine, I'd rather do what we did and add a more options higher up and goal threat.”
On Callum Lang’s position, injury record and character...
“Attacking areas, all over, “said Heckingbottom. “Obviously, 3-5-2 he would be one of the front two. We've played 3-4-3, one of the 10s or he could be a 10 when we play the diamond shape. So yeah, what we want from him is just his natural game. He attacks the box well, aggressive, which is good. He will receive the ball against pressure in and around the box, which I think we need to improve at.
“He's got a real good energy against the ball as well, so he just needs to come and play his game and then we'll add bits to that, tweak bits to that based on how we set the team up. No (to being fazed by recent injuries), other than getting him fit. That's it. We just need to make sure we manage that properly, because one thing we need to make sure is that when we let Callum go on the pitch, he can go flat out, because that's how he likes to play and that's what we enjoy about his performances.
“So, it might be down to us to manage that a little bit but that's certainly what we want from him. We want that same energy, drive, aggression, determination and enthusiasm, which is how he plays. We've signed three good lads. Milos (Lukovic), desperate to come here, English is good, good personality.
“Andy, desperate to come here again, knows one or two of the boys, was really keen to come - and Callum the same. Bbut I think more importantly, they play with that personality on the pitch. Different profile of players, all of them, but what we speak about all the time is just bringing your personality to our team and our performance, to go and show what you're about.”
On Callum Lang’s fitness...
“Yeah, more or less there,” Heckingbottom told BBC Lancashire. “He's trained fully today with us, which is great. He had been training. It's just the last few days when there's been to-ing and fro-ing regarding is the move on, is it not, when we got him in Tuesday it was his first training day for a while. So, he didn't do the session with us but he's done everything we've done today. He's a naturally fit lad and works hard but yeah, easing him back into the minutes is our next step.”
On getting Andrew Moran at a good time...
“Yeah, he knows the league, a really good footballer, good pedigree, people like him and he's a good age,” said Heckingbottom. “He's one we are looking forward to working with, definitely. He's got a final pass, understands the game with and without the ball. If we can add and keep pushing him to get more goals and tally up his assists, then that's what'll stand out and that's what we hope he can add to us.
“We got the deal done and we were, in my mind, looking at it more for the summer, potentially. But with Mads moving on, it allowed us to go and get him because he was really keen to come to us, which was great. We didn't want to miss out on him but we just weren't in a position to do anything, and then all of a sudden we were. So yeah, we moved really quickly.”
On the challenge of signing young, talented players from Premier League clubs in this day and age...
“Yeah, the landscape's changed,” said Heckingbottom. “What you used to get them out for, compared to now, was peanuts. It’s now big business for these cat-one Premier League teams where they can stockpile players and put big demands on them, whichever ones they want. If young players are going to a big Premier League club, a cap-one club, they can get lost in the numbers but it limits their opportunities.
“It limits their progression, in my opinion, unless they're the ones who get through. But then the ones who get through and are getting in around it, there's a premium on getting them out. So, that's the difficulty. What used to cost 100 grand with a sell on, is nowhere near that now and yeah, that's the difficulty. But we've done well with Odel, Thierry, now Andy and I think Peter would probably back this up...
“I think he's been really pleased and impressed with dealing with Brighton, and how easy they were to help us get the deal done. If they think it's right for the player and they think we then get a chance to develop that player, they can still keep a share in him if they like. Without going into the deals because I don't know that side of it, but that's obviously what the Premier League teams can do as well - keep a share in that player if they think they're going to a club which can help develop him.”
On what Mads Frokjaer’s departure was driven by...
“Well, everything, it was not even on the radar to be honest,” said Heckingbottom to BBC Lancashire. “But then yeah, the offer that came in was good, Mads had 18 months left and from his point of view, he wanted to be playing more. But, from my point of view, from the club's point of view, financially it's good.
“It's good business but on performance, I get all that and I get Mads' situation, but we had to protect ourselves. Mads was not getting the minutes he wanted; I understand that and we had conversations about that. But, he was still contributing and we can't just keep losing players. We have to make sure we keep ourselves in a strong position.”
On whether PNE came out of the window stronger...
“Yeah, the big bits for us are the signings that are ours,” said Heckingbottom to BBC Lancashire. “It's easy to let players go and move them on. It makes good business but we'd already got three loans in; four if Harrison had come back. So, we have to get our own players then, otherwise we're not letting anyone go.
“We did really well, worked hard, got the right personalities and the right players in and by doing that it's another step forward. It's two less we need to do of our own in the summer and we're talking about trying to build a squad that's ours, rather than ripping it up every summer and starting again.So yeah, for me it's a real positive step.”
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