Opinion: Preston North End should swoop for 29-year-old following Fulham exit

Championship clubs will soon be getting active in the transfer market following the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, with the final match to be played on Sunday as Nottingham Forest take on Huddersfield Town in the play-off final.

For the rest of the 23 confirmed outfits in next season’s second tier though, work can get underway to shape squads, and in some cases it already has begun for some.

Preston North End are one club who will be looking to strengthen a few different positions this summer as they aim to push for the play-offs, with a 13th placed finish last season putting them in a decent position to push forward next year.

There are seemingly some priority positions for manager Ryan Lowe to address this summer, with a goalkeeper, a striker and wing-backs all on the agenda.

However, some new centre-backs may be needed as well, with Bambo Diaby yet to sign a new extended contract at Deepdale and Jordan Storey’s future up in the air following his loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday in League One.

In addition to that, German giant Patrick Bauer perhaps isn’t the same player as he was before his achilles injury in December 2020, but that’s a matter of opinion.

At least one centre-back will be needed anyway in the wake of Sepp van den Berg’s loan ending, and the free agent market could be explored by Lowe.

Having addressed the need of more Championship experience in his squad, North End should be looking for a player like Michael Hector, who is now without a club having been released by title-winning Fulham.

If you look at Hector’s list of clubs he’s played for, you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s the archetypical journeyman, but a lot of his loan spells came when he was a young man at Reading, where he joined no fewer