Preston North End made serious profit from Jordan Hugill call - Is it the club's best from recent times? | OneFootball

The sale of Jordan Hugill to West Ham United is up there with the best pieces of business that Preston North End have done recently.

The decision to sell striker Jordan Hugill to West Ham United is one of the best transfer calls that Preston North End have made in recent times.

Hugill arrived at Deepdale with little expectation when he signed for Preston North End from fellow League One side Port Vale in the summer of 2014, having scored against them in a third tier fixture in the 2013-14 season - his first campaign in professional football.

The Lilywhites had a number of forward options at the time, including Joe Garner, as well as former Premier League strikers Jermaine Beckford, Kevin Davies and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.

Simon Grayson's squad had plenty of quality for the third tier, with the likes of Daniel Johnson, Josh Brownhill and Paul Gallagher also part of the side that was tasked with taking PNE back to the Championship at the fourth time of asking following their relegation in 2011.

With so much competition for places in the final third, Hugill spent most of Preston's 2014/15 promotion-winning campaign on loan in League Two with Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United, as he prepared to fight for a place in the team upon his return to Lancashire.

Jordan Hugill made a name for himself at Preston North End

Having returned to Deepdale ahead of the 2015/16 Championship season, and despite being sent off against MK Dons in the second game, Hugill made 29 appearances over the course of the campaign, scoring important goals against Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United.

However, it was the following season that he really established himself as a Championship striker, scoring 12 goals as the Lilywhites finished 11th in the second tier, with his physicality and strikers' instinct making him a real handful for opposition defences.

Hugill continued his good form during the first half of the 2017/18 season, which attracted interest in his services from other clubs. Reading reportedly had a bid of £8 million rejected amid interest from Bristol City and Leeds, while Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace were also linked with moves prior to his eventual departure from Deepdale.

The striker finally completed a move to Premier League outfit West Ham United for a reported fee of £10 million on deadline day in January 2018, bringing his three-and-a-half year spell at Preston to an end. In his announcement video on X, he stated that he couldn't wait to walk out at the London Stadium with all the bubbles, before going on to make just three appearances for the Hammers.

Was the sale of Jordan Hugill the best transfer decision that Preston North End have made in recent times?

While many Preston supporters will look back fondly on Hugill's time at the club, there is no denying that his sale was a good piece of business.

The Lilywhites spent just £25,000 on signing him from Port Vale in 2014, and while a sell-on clause was also agreed, Preston still made a huge profit when he made the move to East London.

After his unsuccessful spell at West Ham, Hugill has played for Middlesbrough, Queens Park Rangers, Norwich City, West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City and Rotherham United, highlighting his credentials as a solid Championship striker.

PNE have also completed other excellent pieces of business, such as selling Callum Robinson to Sheffield United for around £6 million in 2019, having agreed a compensation package with Aston Villa to sign him a few years earlier.

They also spent just £50,000 on signing midfielder Daniel Johnson from Villa in January 2015, who went on to make over 300 appearances for the club.

However, the fact that Preston received an eight-figure fee, the largest sum that they have ever sold a player for ahead of David Nugent's £6 million move to Portsmouth in 2009, for a striker who has spent the majority of his career in the second tier, surely makes the sale of Hugill the best transfer call that the club has made in recent times.

Of course, had PNE kept Hugill instead of selling him in January 2018, then perhaps they would have cracked the play-off spots, having finished just two points outside the Championship's top six under Alex Neil.

North End didn't really replace Hugill directly, such was the timing of his departure so late in the day, and perhaps that was a shortcoming at times from February onwards - a run of four defeats in five matches with just two goals scored between March 11 and April 7 really did cost the Lilywhites a top six berth.

If Hugill was still there, it may have of course been a different story, but there's no denying that bagging £10 million for his services was a tremendous bit of business.