Loan players could be in line for return to Preston North End next season

The Lilywhites leaned heavily on the loan market in January, initially seven of their eight winter signings being loan deals.

That number was whittled down to five, with Ched Evans and Greg Cunningham turning their loans into permanent deals.

North End have Daniel Iversen Sepp van den Berg, Liam Lindsay, Anthony Gordon and Jayson Molumby on loan.

All could conceivably be targets for next season and PNE will talk with the players’ parent clubs before the end of this campaign to check on their availability.

Goalkeeper Iversen has already stated he would like to go out on loan next season to continue his development, with him having Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Ward ahead of him at Leicester.

Liverpool teenager Van den Berg came to Deepdale as part of the deal which took Ben Davies to Anfield.

North End do have first shout on the defender should the Reds choose to loan him out next season.

Gordon has excited fans since arriving from Everton and with the Toffees well staffed in attacking positions, the winger could be available on loan again.

When PNE took Molumby on loan from Brighton, Alex Neil was quite open on the fact that they had first tried to strike a permanent deal.

The Seagulls at that stage were not prepared to let him go full-time.

Their status will be key to what happens with Molumby, if they stay in the Premier League they could sell.

Were they to be relegated, Brighton – who are only outside the bottom three on goal difference – could be minded to keep hold of him in the Championship.

Centre-half Lindsay is on loan from Stoke City and has another 12 months left on his contract there.

The Scotsman has been out of action since last month’s defeat at Cardiff with a hamstring injury.

North End manager Neil spoke this week of a busy summer ahead in terms of shaping the squad.

In addition to the loan players and moves into the permanent market, contracts will be on the agenda in the weeks and months ahead.

PNE have a handful of players out of contract this summer, Evans and Cunningham two of them after signing short-term deals.

However, there are 13 players on the books who in the summer will enter the final year of their contracts.

They include Patrick Bauer, Tom Barkhuizen, Scott Sinclair, Jordan Storey, Brad Potts and Joe Rafferty.

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