Preston North End player set for summer departure

Joe Rafferty is set to depart Preston North End this summer when his contract expires, according to Alan Nixon.

The 28-year-old joined the Lilywhites in January 2019 from Rochdale for an undisclosed fee, but he was never able to nail down a permanent starting spot under Alex Neil, Frankie McAvoy or current boss Ryan Lowe.

A former Liverpool youth international, Rafferty spent his whole professional career at Rochdale before making the switch to Deepdale over three years ago, with his most successful campaign being the 2019-20 one where he played 29 times in the Championship.

Rafferty though has found it tougher recently to get minutes under his belt, playing 22 times in the league last season but featured very little in the second half of the campaign, and he didn’t feature at all in the Championship when McAvoy was head coach.

Having made four appearances since Lowe came to the club to replace McAvoy, Rafferty’s contract will not be renewed and he will be free to explore his options at the end of the season.

The Verdict

This will come as no surprise to PNE fans considering Rafferty’s lack of game-time recently.

At his best, Rafferty was a solid, dependable full-back for the club who could play on either side of the pitch, but he never did anything flashy.

With Ryan Lowe wanting his wing-backs to be very attacking and have a bit of pace, Rafferty was always likely to be a casualty of the summer rebuild.

He can probably find a good League One club to settle at for the next couple of years but his Deepdale journey is set to end in the coming weeks.

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