£1.7m Preston North End man set for transfer exit | OneFootball

Preston North End have agreed a deal to sell Jeppe Okkels

Preston North End winger Jeppe Okkels is set to sign for Swedish outfit Djurgardens.

The Lilywhites have started their 2025/26 Championship campaign in fine form, drawing away at QPR before recording shock home victories over recently-relegated duo Leicester City and Ipswich Town.

It’s been a busy summer at Deepdale and that doesn’t look likely to change in the final stages of the transfer window, with rumours swirling over Milutin Osmajic’s future.

A number of departures have been sanctioned across the summer months, with the likes of Kian Best, Ryan Ledson, Emil Riis, Jack Whatmough and Freddie Woodman all moving on, while manager Paul Heckingbottom has added ten new signings to his squad by leaning heavily on the Premier League loan market to pull off deals for Alfie Devine, Lewis Dobbin and Daniel Jebbison.

However, Preston are now set to green-light yet another exit from Deepdale, with Jeppe Okkels on the verge of ending his disappointing stay with the Lilywhites.

Jeppe Okkels set for Preston North End exit

Okkels arrived at PNE last year in extremely unusual circumstances, as his signing coincided with former boss Ryan Lowe’s dramatic departure after just one game of the 2023/24 campaign.

North End were crying out for a winger to fill the void left by Liam Millar, but after just over 12 months, Okkels is set to leave the Lancashire outfit.

According to fotbollskanalen, Swedish club Djurgardens have agreed a deal for the 26-year-old’s signature.

The move sees Okkels return to a country where he has enjoyed great success in the past, emerging as a real talent when playing for fellow Swedish side Elfsborg.

Scoring 11 goals and providing five assists in 31 appearances during Di Gule’s 2023 campaign earned the winger a move to Dutch outfit FC Utrecht, where he stayed for eight months before joining North End.

After arriving at Deepdale for a reported fee of £1.7 million, Okkels played just 10 times last term, which included three appearances in the EFL Cup.

The winger spent the second half of last season on loan with Scottish side Aberdeen, where he scored one goal in 18 games.

Jeppe Okkels was a poor investment of funds from Preston North End

When Okkels signed for PNE, it sparked mass excitement among the Lilywhites’ fanbase, as hope began to spread that they had another Millar on their hands, but this time on a permanent deal.

However, it became quickly apparent that Heckingbottom didn’t see the winger as part of his long-term plans at Deepdale.

There were glimpses of real talent from the wideman, with his cameo against Arsenal in the EFL Cup extremely promising. Attacking towards the Town End, he was roared on by supporters as he glided down the wing and caused one of Europe’s elite defences real problems.

This led to calls from supporters to integrate him into the team, but by January, it was clear that his future didn’t lie in Lancashire.

A club in PNE’s financial spectrum needs to be clinical when they outlay significant portions of money and on this occasion, they were hopelessly wide of the mark.