Preston North End might have finally solved big 2024/25 issue - they have Spurs to thank | OneFootball

Paul Heckingbottom's latest loanee may provide some solutions to a prominent Preston North End problem.

Preston North End have brought their number of new imports to 10 for the summer with the arrival of young midfielder Alfie Devine, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 21-year-old has been on the books at Spurs for over five years now, and this temporary switch to Deepdale will be his fourth loan spell away from the club.

In his time as a Tottenham squad player, as well as during his previous loan spells with Port Vale, Plymouth Argyle and Belgian club Westerlo, he has proven himself as an attacking-minded prospect, which might just fill a role that PNE are crying out for.

Devine has climbed the league pyramid since becoming a senior footballer

Alfie Devine is no stranger to the Northwest region of the country. In his formative years, he was an academy player at Liverpool, and then Wigan Athletic, where he showed Spurs first-hand what he could do as he helped the Latics upset his future employers in the 2019/20 FA Youth Cup Fourth Round.

Aged 15, Devine signed on for Wigan, but was hastily sold when the club were placed into administration less than a month later. Spurs were happy to take him on, and paid approximately £300,000 for his services, per Alex Pattle of The Independent.

It was at Spurs that Devine not only moved from a holding midfielder role to one with more of an attacking mindset, but he also made his first senior appearance, and scored on his debut to boot.

In Spurs’ 5-0 FA Cup third round victory against non-league Marine in January 2021, 16-year-old Devine played the full second half and scored, becoming the youngest player in the club’s history at the time to feature and score in a competitive game, as Goal.com reported.

Despite making history with his debut, Devine is still yet to make his Premier League bow. For Spurs, his appearances at senior level are confined to cup competitions. Instead, he would go on to make his senior league debut for Port Vale, who took a chance on the youngster after two consistent seasons in the Premier League 2, where he averaged a goal contribution every two games.

Devine notched three goals and two assists in all competitions during the first half of the season for the League One outfit, before jumping up a level in January by joining Championship side Plymouth. He managed a further two assists for a struggling Pilgrims’ side that eventually avoided the drop by just a point.

Most recently, he spent a season away from English shores, and made his top division debut in the process. For Belgian side Westerlo, Devine was a part of every game in the regular season since his arrival, barring a three-week absence due to a hamstring injury.

In the Belgian Pro League’s complicated play-off system, he played in nine of 10 matches to try to push his side to Europa Conference League qualification, scoring twice and assisting one along the way. Westerlo fell short, coming second in the play-offs to Charleroi.

Preston may hugely benefit from more creative attacking players

Devine’s numbers are steady, but they haven’t been enough to this point to convince the top brass at Tottenham to give him an extended run in the squad just yet.

With the permanent arrivals of Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel to North London, as well as recent reports of Manchester City’s Savinho potentially joining the club, per Sky Sports, Devine has again been allowed to leave on a temporary basis.

Preston taking a swing on the midfielder’s services is not all that much of a surprise. When it comes to attacking-minded players, the numbers that the Lilywhites put forward in 2024/25 suggest that such an import is quite necessary.

PNE finished 20th in the Championship last season, and struggled for goals throughout the campaign. They scored 48 – the same as bottom side Cardiff City, and three less than second-bottom Plymouth. In addition, they failed to score in 11 league matches.

They also helped make up the bottom ten of teams in the division for big chances created. They managed 84 of those throughout the season, which is two less than relegated Luton Town.

Given that Paul Heckingbottom, like many recent PNE managers, appears to prefer a five-back formation, there is not always space for a recognised attacking midfielder like Devine. The club’s best current example of this is Mads Frokjaer, who managed eight goal contributions in all competitions last season.

He managed that tally from 45 games in total. He started 31 of those, and earned a record of 0.26 goal contributions per 90 minutes – less than Devine’s 0.29 from his full season in Belgium.

Duane Holmes, who also filled this role last season, departed the club for the MLS in March. Brad Potts played as an attacking midfielder before anything else once upon a time, but he has been preferred as a wing back ever since the early days of Ryan Lowe.

Devine might not bring the most awe-inspiring numbers to Deepdale, but what he could bring is a playing style and the ability to feature in a position that would seriously boost PNE’s attacking output, which most would concur they need after nearly dropping out of the league last season.

PNE ought to take every boost they can get ahead of a competitive Championship season

It is imperative for North End to finish higher in the table than they did last season. They have already begun their new Championship campaign, drawing 1-1 away against QPR, who finished five places and six points above them in 2024/25.

They fell behind to an Andrew Hughes own goal, but equalised in the second via a delightful Milutin Osmajic chip shot, that was assisted by returning goalkeeper Daniel Iversen, of all people.

Devine featured in that game for the last 15 minutes, and was the subject of praise from the manager in the aftermath. Heckingbottom said to the LEP: "I think you can see that when he comes on to the pitch he plays with the energy that we want. He wants to get on the ball.

“Last season he showed a lot of aggression against the ball and a good understanding, but I think you could see on the ball, he's comfortable. He's got the hunger and the drive, without the ball, to fit into what we want to do." Heckingbottom also acknowledged that Devine “played predominantly as a 10” whilst in Belgium.

With Devine now a part of the squad, North End have another option to test the waters with when it comes to how they want to progress up the field. The Spurs man has shown himself to be a useful asset to EFL teams when going on the attack.

When he joined the Lilywhites, Devine himself told the PNE website: "I like to make people excited. I like to get on the ball. I like to always be involved in it and get people off their seats." His new gaffer seems to think he is capable of doing exactly that, and if he is, then that could be one less weakness for Preston fans to worry about.