As Alvaro Fernandez deal looks unlikely, Preston North End should now push for Man City wing-back: Opinion | OneFootball

Preston North End still have some gaps to fill in their first-team squad before the transfer window closes on September 1, but the Lilywhites have made some solid progress in the last week in order to bolster their options.

Movement was slow in the early stages with just Liverpool right-back Calvin Ramsay coming in on a season-long loan deal, giving Brad Potts some much-needed competition in the wing-back slot for the first time since manager Ryan Lowe arrived in December 2021.

Things then went quiet but last week, North End unleashed a triple salvo of recruits, with Mads Frøkjær-Jensen, Duane Holmes and Will Keane all signing on the dotted line to make the numbers look a bit healthier.

More are needed though in order to cover all bases, with one of the positions that needs looking at being the left wing-back spot.

Robbie Brady has signed a new two-year contract with the club and he battled with Manchester United loanee Alvaro Fernandez for a place in the starting 11 last season, with the young Spaniard impressing in his first taste of regular men's football.

Fernandez though is destined for either a loan move to a top European league or he could stay at Old Trafford, having performed well in their first pre-season match against Leeds United, so North End fans must prepare to be disappointed at his expected non-return.

The fact that PNE looked into new Sheffield United signing Yasser Larouci from Troyes showed that Fernandez probably isn't coming back, but now they must move on to other options, and the man that should be at the very top of their list is Man City youngster Josh Wilson-Esbrand.

Why should PNE target Josh Wilson-Esbrand?

A young, attack-minded left-back is the route that North End need to go down again, and there probably isn't anyone more suited to the role in the cluster of players available than Wilson-Esbrand.

Unlike Fernandez, who was playing under-21 football for United before making the move to Deepdale, Wilson-Esbrand has tasted Championship action already, having spent the second half of the 2022-23 season with Coventry City.

Wilson-Esbrand appeared 14 times for the Sky Blues but only started five times, with Jake Bidwell favoured in the left wing-back spot under Mark Robins, and when it came to the play-offs he didn't feature at all and remained rooted to the bench.

Nevertheless, though, he was in Man City's matchday squad in the Premier League numerous times in the first half of the campaign, meaning that Pep Guardiola clearly rates his abilities, and he has played three times for City's first-team as well - two of those last year in the Champions League against FC Copenhagen and Sevilla.

Naturally, the 20-year-old needs first-team football and North End need a speedy type down the left to provide another option to Brady, and Wilson-Esbrand would fit the bill.

What is Josh Wilson-Esbrand's current situation with Man City?

Even though City are in the business of selling some of their young loanees with buy-back and sell-on clauses, the likely fee for a player like Wilson-Esbrand is far out of reach for North End.

Wilson-Esbrand last signed a contract in February 2022, which saw him put pen-to-paper on a new five-year contract until June 2027.

A loan deal will be the only option for North End, but it's a market they've been successful in over the years and with Lukas Nmecha and Liam Delap both heading from the Etihad Stadium to PNE in the past, they must have a chance of landing another loanee from the Premier League champions.