Preston North End struck gold with initial Aston Villa transfer - it pocketed them £8m transfer fee | OneFootball

It was nine years ago this summer that one of Preston's most impressive transfer deals of the last decade was completed

It was nine years ago this summer that one of Preston North End's most impressive transfer deals of the last decade was completed – and they did it for free with a former loan star.

Going into their fourth straight year in the third tier of English football in 2014/15, Simon Grayson was determined to help Preston go one better than they had in the previous season - a play-off semi-final defeat to eventual winners Rotherham United.

To reinforce their front line, headed up by the league's leading scorer the previous year, Joe Garner, PNE turned to the Premier League, looking for players who were young and hungry for the chance to prove themselves with minutes on the pitch in the EFL.

In the end, they found one - Aston Villa's Callum Robinson. He joined the club in September on an initial one-month loan deal that was extended multiple times due to impressive performances.

All told, during his first temporary stint at Deepdale, Robinson managed six goal contributions from 11 games, only seven of which he started.

Preston’s loan imports were key to their promotion 10 years ago

Preston were promoted from League One as play-off winners in May of that year, demolishing Swindon Town 4-0 in the final at Wembley. That side, managed by Grayson, had a formidable forward line by League One standards at the time.

On-loan stars Jermaine Beckford and Paul Gallagher, as well as signed players Garner and Daniel Johnson were crucial in PNE’s battle to return to the Championship. Also in the mix to provide squad depth were future record sale Jordan Hugill, and, back from Villa, Callum Robinson.

On his 20th birthday, Robinson had re-joined the club on loan in February 2015. During this second spell, he featured 16 more times and made five more goal contributions. This stat was very promising for a young man who only played the full 90 minutes on five occasions after his return.

When PNE made the play-offs, Villa’s then-manager Tim Sherwood gave Robinson special permission to remain at Preston for the semi-final tie against Chesterfield. However, Sherwood made it clear that he would be recalled immediately after, regardless of whether the Lilywhites made the final.

They did, with Robinson making a cameo appearance in the first leg of the semi-final – a 1-0 away win for PNE. However, he wouldn’t be a part of the side that traveled to Wembley to defeat Swindon. Even still, he had garnered plenty of love from the Preston faithful throughout a fruitful loan spell.

Preston brought Robinson back permanently to bolster front line in Championship

Following one season of general success back in England’s second tier where they finished 11th, it became clear that Preston’s naturally dominant attack in League One wouldn’t quite be enough to push them into the upper echelons of the Championship.

Beckford, now contracted to North End, and Garner, who had scored a combined 44 goals in League One in 2014/15, saw that total drop to just eight in the Championship in 2015/16. It would be midfielder Johnson who took home the club’s Golden Boot award for that campaign, with a poultry seven strikes.

To be competitive in the next season, manager Grayson turned to two players who had only played bit parts in his promotion campaign with the club – Hugill, and a permanently returning Robinson.

Once again, he had ventured to Deepdale on loan for the latter half of the 2015/16 season, and it was to be that summer when his Aston Villa contract would expire. Despite being offered a new one, he declined to pursue more first-team playing time, which he hoped to gain at Preston.

As reported by the LEP at the time, Preston paid an “undisclosed youth compensation” to permanently secure Robinson’s services in the summer of 2016. That hidden figure to one side, Robinson was a free signing for the Lilywhites.

The use of Hugill and Robinson saw an almost immediate upturn in Preston’s attacking form. In 2016/17, the two forwards managed 33 goal contributions between them in all competitions, with 17 of those coming from the former Villa man.

By January 2018, Hugill had departed Preston for a club-record fee in the region of £10m, as was reported by BBC Sport. With that, the responsibility was solely on Robinson to lead the line for North End, who were now managed by Alex Neil.

Forwards Louis Moult and Sean Maguire were in the squad to provide competition to Robinson, but neither man really posed a threat to his place in the starting XI, nor to his place in the hearts of the Preston faithful at the time. He ended that Championship campaign with 15 goal contributions.

Robinson became Preston’s own ‘CR7’ before departing in lucrative sale

Going into what would transpire to be his final season at Deepdale, the club announced that Callum Robinson would inherit Preston’s No.7 shirt. The LEP subsequently used his initials and new number to make a cheeky comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo, calling him “Preston’s own CR7”.

He started the 2018/19 campaign like a house on fire, notching eight in 18 games before a hamstring injury would compromise nearly half of his season. This was an injury that BBC Sport speculated might have required surgery at the time.

Right before his injury, he scored for PNE in a 4-1 demolition of local rivals Blackburn Rovers, and he memorably celebrated by standing in front of the traveling Rovers’ faithful, with his arms crossed and a determined smirk on his face – as if he wasn’t already beloved enough by North End’s fanbase.

Upon his return from his hiatus, Robinson would score a further three times and assist one in the club’s final nine matches of the season, of which they won just two. His continued importance to Preston despite his injury saw an interested party make a bid that Alex Neil couldn’t ignore in the summer.

As reported by BBC Sport, then-Premier League newcomers Sheffield United broke their own transfer record to secure Robinson’s services on July 12th, 2019. Despite the transfer amount not being made public at the time, it was described by Sheffield United’s own website as being "a substantial undisclosed fee”.

LancsLive later reported that the amount paid to PNE (and partially to Villa, as part of a sell-on clause) was “believed to be in the region of £8m”.

Over three years as a contracted professional with Preston, as well as during his three prior loan spells, Robinson proved his worth to the club. The player later reflected on his time in the North West, telling the LEP that he "grew from a boy to a man at Preston".

In the years since, it has been speculated several times that a return to Deepdale for the Republic of Ireland international would be a very positive thing, such as by LancsLive in 2022, and even by FLW going into this coming summer.

Whether he does or doesn’t ever come back to Preston, he has done enough to garner good faith from fans for the rest of his career.