“He’s absolutely perfect” – Preston North End strike agreement with 30-year-old: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Preston North End have confirmed the signing of Robbie Brady, following his departure from AFC Bournemouth.

The Lilywhites, who have been striving to improve their wing-back options ahead of the new campaign, have made a strong start to the summer with their recruitment thus far.

Brady only managed six games in the Championship for the Cherries last season, spending most of his time with the Cherries in a deputy role, although Scott Parker spoke great words about the impact he had on the dressing room.

Arriving at Deepdale, Brady will be hoping that he can secure regular first-team football, with Preston likely to be ambitious about what the new season might hold for them.

Three of our writers here at FLW have shared their thoughts regarding the arrival of Brady at Preston…

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Carla Devine

The signing of Robbie Brady is a strong move from Preston here and they will no doubt be glad to have his services on board ahead of the new season.

Given the amount of experience he has, Lowe will be pleased to use him in the side and his style of play will suit the side well. However, I wouldn’t have him down as a guaranteed starter in the side.

I think we’ll see him play a regular amount of games but possibly coming off the bench at times. Given he is an older player now and also someone that is quite injury prone, Lowe will be conscious not to over do him and risk anything.

So whilst I think he’ll have a big part to play at Deepdale next season, I’m not sure he’ll be a guarantee in the starting 11.

Alfie Burns

The only concern with Brady from a Preston point of view is going to be his fitness. We know he’s struggled in recent seasons to get himself available consistently, so that’s the first hurdle to overcome.

If Brady can do that and is in contention for Ryan Lowe, you’ve got to assume that he’s going to be amongst the starters by the time the Championship season comes around.

Playing in a left wing-back role, he’s absolutely perfect, offering the right blend of attacking intent and defensive ability. In terms of his pure talent, he will be ahead of most in the the Preston squad.

So, you’d think, if he gets the fitness side of things right, he will be starting given his undeniable quality and the fact you can see exactly where he’d fit into the squad.

Ned Holmes

We’ll have to see how he fares in pre-season but I would be very surprised if he’s not a regular in the starting XI.

Bar lightning pace, Robbie Brady has got everything you’d be looking for in a forward-thinking left wing-back and his delivery could see the likes of Emil Riis have a lot of success next term.

Ryan Lowe is not blessed with many options on the left flank and you’d have to say that Brady will be the obvious option unless another signing is made.

He’ll clearly want to impress his new manager in the coming weeks but it would be a surprise to me if he’s not in the XI against Wigan Athletic at the end of the month.