Ryan Lowe speaks out on potential return to Preston North End squad for 28-year-old

Preston have their annual ‘Gentry Day’ this weekend against Barnsley and regardless of whether it has much impact on the Championship table or not, the Lilywhites will be determined to pick up the win.

One boost for the side then after a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Blackburn in midweek, is that Tom Barkhuizen could potentially be back in the mix for the game.

Speaking on the club’s official Twitter account, boss Ryan Lowe admitted that he could go with the side for their fixture against the Tykes if he is fit enough.

The 28-year-old will no doubt be desperate to get back into the action too, especially with his contract set to run out at the end of the campaign. He’s been a first-team regular at Deepdale for six seasons now and has played in just under 200 league games for PNE during his time there.

However, this year he has been much more limited in terms of the appearances he has made. Picking up a number of knocks and injuries has meant he’s played in just 13 league games this campaign, with ten starts and no goals.

The last of his appearances came in January, and this is his worst output since moving to Preston and is the lowest number of games he has played in for North End.

In a contract year, that isn’t good news for the forward. However, having featured for the club’s reserve side in midweek, there is a chance he could be back in time to at least play some part in either the fixture against Barnsley this weekend or in the last game of the season.

Speaking about the player to the club’s official Twitter account, boss Ryan Lowe said: “He got 45 minutes on Tuesday, so we will see how he is today to see if he’s fit and available to come with us, we don’t want to rush him back too soon though with just two games to