Sheffield Wednesday helped Preston North End see dividends from £750k deal: View | OneFootball

Preston North End's back three has been fairly set in stone over the last couple of months.

Under manager, Ryan Lowe, Preston have typically lined up with a back three over the course of this season, and it has seen them remain in the play-off race for practically the entire campaign.

Since Christmas, Lowe has been reasonably consistent with his team selection in terms of the defence, with Jordan Storey, Andrew Hughes and Liam Lindsay typically making up his often reliable back three.

Today, Football League World looks at the youngest of those centre halves, as Storey continues to impress at Deepdale.

The 26-year-old has become one of the first names on the team sheets for Preston North End, but this has not always been the case.

After signing for the club back in 2018, he was very much considered as one for the future for the first half-season at North End, but he would slowly make his way into Alex Neil's plans for the second half of his debut season in Lancashire - he would only appear sporadically though in 2019-20 before becoming more of a regular the season after.

A regular under Frankie McAvoy in the first half of 2021-22, the Scotsman's replacement - Ryan Lowe - did not see the same things as his predecessor and ended up loaning Storey out in January 2022 to Sheffield Wednesday, and it is that move that could have made the Somerset-born man a better player.Preston North End's Jordan Storey deal with Exeter City

Storey started his career at Exeter City, and in the 2017-18 season he made 17 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals from defence as his side made the League Two play-off final.

His performances at a young age was enough to catch the eye of many, and ultimately rewarded him with an exciting move to the Championship as PNE came calling in the summer of 2018.

A deal worth £750,000 was agreed between the Grecians and North End which, after his first couple of seasons at Deepdale, seemed like a rather steep price due to the fact he was in and out of the first-team.

However, it now appears to have been a stroke of genius.

Jordan Storey's Sheffield Wednesday loan spell shaped him into a better player for PNE

Over the first three and a half seasons with PNE, Storey made 85 league appearances and was slowly establishing himself as a solid Championship centre-back.

But in the 2021-22 season, as Christmas and the January transfer window approached, he was witnessing his game time decrease.

His place in the starting 11 had been lost, so a loan move to get regular first-team football seemed a necessity.

It was Sheffield Wednesday of League One,at the time who secured the loan deal until the end of the season, and looking at Storey's career so far, this appears to have been the turning point.

During his spell with the Owls, he made 21 starts as his side reached the League One play-offs.

Yes, Sheffield Wednesday fell short in the semi-finals, but Storey gained some valuable experience in a promotion-chasing side.

This loan deal was a huge success as he was getting the regular starts that he may not have had at PNE for the second half of that 2021/22 season, and he really stepped it up a notch.

He was given the licence to thrive at the top end of League One and this, in turn, has since made him a quality Championship defender.

Jordan Storey has been a regular at PNE since Sheffield Wednesday stint

The £750,000 deal to sign Storey back in 2018 now appears to be worth it, and a lot of that is down to his time with Sheffield Wednesday.

Last season, he started all but three Championship games for Preston as they finished 12th in the table.

Ryan Lowe is now able to heavily rely on the 26-year-old, who has really kicked on since his confidence-boosting stint in South Yorkshire.

It seemingly gave the defender far more confidence and he established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet at Deepdale.

This season has been a similar story so far, as he has made 33 league starts and has contributed to eight clean sheets in the Championship.

Preston continue to fight for a place in the play-offs, and Storey is certainly doing his job as part of an experienced back three.

Looking back now, PNE may have a lot to thank Sheffield Wednesday for as they handed the defender the game-time needed to further himself, and they are now profiting from it with his performances on the pitch.