Preston North End: Lincoln City man could be ideal summer signing to compete with Brad Potts - View | OneFootball

Preston North End will be hoping to end a run of consistent mid-table finishes by finishing in the play-offs by the end of the current campaign.

Since the Lilywhites’ promotion to the second tier in 2015, which broke their lifetime play-off hoodoo, they have never finished inside the Championship's top six, but have also never been close to a relegation battle.

Ryan Lowe’s side are currently sat in eighth position, and after a resounding 3-0 victory away at Coventry City on Friday night they are just three points off the top six, although they have a negative goal difference.

Lowe has stuck with a three at the back system with wing-backs this season, and one of the main staples of his starting 11 has been Brad Potts at right wing-back.

Known for being a midfielder or a winger earlier on in his career for the likes of Blackpool and Barnsley, Potts had been a consistent attack-minded performer for a number of years in the Championship, League One and League Two before his switch to PNE.

Now 29 years old, Potts had been at Deepdale for just over five years after joining from Barnsley in January 2019.

In total, Potts has gone on to make over 200 appearances for the Lilywhites, but following Ryan Lowe’s appointment in December 2021, he was relocated to the right wing-back position and it has been his home ever since.

For the majority of that time though, Potts has had no natural competition in that area of the pitch - Ali McCann and Alan Browne can just about cover if necessary, but the summer arrival of Calvin Ramsay on loan from Liverpool was supposed to fix that issue.

The Scotsman suffered from fitness issues though, and having been recalled in January by the Reds to be sent back out to League One outfit Bolton Wanderers, it left Potts as the only right wing-back option for Lowe once more - and naturally after not replacing Ramsay, North End saw Potts struck down with a hamstring injury earlier in February, having picked up the issue in a win over Cardiff City.

Potts is also turning 30 in July too, so Lowe may have to look towards the future as well this summer when it comes to not only providing Potts with more competition, but also a long-term replacement.

Lincoln City's Lasse Sorensen could be the perfect competition for Brad Potts

One player that PNE could look to sign in the summer to compete with Potts is Lasse Sorensen.

Sorensen currently plies his trade in League One for Lincoln City, and has been at the club since the summer of 2021 when he joined from Stoke City.

He has been playing at right wing-back in a similar system to Potts, with Lincoln also playing with three at the back under manager Michael Skubala.

When comparing the two, Sorensen seems ready for the step up to the Championship based on his attacking capabilities alone.

It has to be noted when looking at these that Sorensen is playing at a lower level than Potts, but his stats speak for themselves.

Sorensen has more goals and assists, has created a stackful of big chances and has a better cross accuracy too, showing how much he provides at the top end of the pitch.

Whilst Potts has the better defensive stats and attributes, Sorensen's League One numbers are fairly solid, but it's clear to see that his main talents are at the top end of the pitch.

Sorensen's Lincoln is set to expire at the end of the season, according to Transfermarkt, so PNE would be able to pick him up on a free if they went for him - although there is bound to be competition from other clubs too.

At the age of 24, Sorensen has plenty of room to develop, and certainly in the long run being five years the junior of Potts he could be more-than ready to come in for him sooner rather than later, but definitely within the next year or two.

The acquisition of Sorensen would be a smart move by North End, and if they do not make the top six this season, a player of Sorensen's talents would certainly be a big boost to put them in the mix once more in 2024-25.