Preston North End face new hurdle in bid to retain Milutin Osmajic | OneFootball

Osmajic has scored in both of Preston's Championship games this season.

Preston North End talisman Milutin Osmajic is one of the strikers that La Liga side Deportivo are reported to be interested in.

Any striker that has the start to a season that the Montenegran has had this time around is likely to catch the eye of teams who are looking to upgrade up front.

In games against Queens Park Rangers and Leicester City - Preston's only two Championship games so far this season - Osmajic found the back of the net against both.

The 26-year-old only registered nine goals throughout the whole of what was a disrupted campaign for him last time out, due to an eight-game suspension for biting Blackburn Rovers' Owen Beck in September. He scored eight times in the 2023/24 season too.

He is on course, as things stand, to easily put up his best season since moving to Deepdale two summers ago from Spanish side Cadiz, but there is a chance that he could go back to his former country of residence, as new reports have linked him with a return to the continent.

Milutin Osmajic linked with Deportivo move

Spanish outlet Riazor have claimed that Deportivo are interested in Osmajic. The club's head coach, Antonio Hidalgo, has said that he wants a forward that "goes to space, with mobility and who can develop in another attacking position", and the Preston forward is the latest player to pop up on their radar that fits into this category.

Other options that the blue and white side are said to be looking at include Juan Carlos Arana, Jon Karrikaburu, Carlos Martín, Urko Izeta and Miguel de la Fuente - all players who currently play in Spain.

Osmajic moved to Lancashire after Preston paid a reported £2.1 million fee - the highest amount the Lilywhites had ever paid for a player - to Cadiz for his services. Included in that deal, according to Riazor, was a 30 percent sell-on clause on the profits made from any future sale of the Montenegro international.

Milutin Osmajic factors leave Preston in a good negotiating position

Preston are fairly well protected when it comes to Osmajic. He still has just under another two years left on his deal with the club, and their CEO, Peter Ridsdale, said earlier in the summer that they hadn't received any offers for the 26-year-old, and that they weren't actively looking to sell the centre-forward, as per the Lancashire Evening Post.