Preston North End: Will Keane twist emerges amid West Brom and Wrexham interest | OneFootball

Preston have opened contract discussions with striker Will Keane after interest from West Brom and Wrexham has emerged.

Preston North End have opened contract talks with Will Keane, which comes after interest in the experienced striker has emerged from both West Bromwich Albion and Wrexham.

That's according to an exclusive report from Football Insider on Thursday, as Preston look to tie down one of their star players.

The Lilywhites have reportedly knocked back bids from both the Baggies and the Red Dragons, with the League One side's offer revealed to have been in the region of £750,000.

Keane, 31, is only contracted at Deepdale until the end of the season, and is fresh off the back of 13-goal Championship campaign that saw him crowned as the club's top scorer.

Preston holding contract talks with Keane

The latest twist in the Keane transfer saga emerged on Thursday, with Football Insider exclusively revealing that Preston and the player's representatives have entered discussions over the possibility of agreeing a new deal for the striker.

It appears that North End are keen to retain the services of the veteran marksman, and will surely not want to lose their top scorer from last term so late into the window.

After graduating from Manchester United's academy system in 2011, Keane embarked on multiple loan spells with Wigan Athletic, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston before finally leaving Old Trafford for good in 2016.

Hull City was his next stop, but after failing to carve out a meaningful role in East Yorkshire, not aided by suffering a major knee ligament injury during this period, Keane signed with Ipswich Town on a permanent deal in 2019.

Once again, however, it wasn't long before he was on the move again, signing with Wigan Athletic in 2020 after just two seasons with the Tractor Boys.

It was with the Latics that the Irish international finally found a home, and indeed his goalscoring boots. 50 goals in 133 appearances ensured he'd be staying in the Championship following Wigan's relegation to League One in 2023.

Since joining Preston, Keane has continued to find the back of the net on a consistent basis, and has developed into a key member of the Lilywhite's squad.

Heckingbottom will surely be keeping close eye on how club handle Keane situation

Paul Heckingbottom is still settling in to his new surroundings at Deepdale, after being named as the club's new head coach following the surprise departure of Ryan Lowe after the opening game of the season.

But, it is in these first few weeks that the former Leeds and Sheffield United boss will be watching closely how the board handle Keane's future over the coming hours.

The Lilywhites saw their captain, and midfield talisman Alan Browne depart the club on a free transfer to Sunderland earlier this summer, after running down his contract.

It's fair to say that proved to be a costly mistake from the club's hierarchy, as had they decided to cash in when they still could, North End would've surely received a healthy seven-figure fee for the midfielder.

Whilst Browne is a couple of years Keane's senior, goalscoring strikers are always hot property. Therefore, should Preston continue to rebuff interest in the big striker in the final hours of the window, but fail to resolve his contract situation in the coming weeks and months, they could once again find themselves missing out on vital transfer funds.

For a club such as Preston who don't have the wealthiest owners in the division, and have struggled in recent times to generate their own transfer budgets through the selling on of players, unnecessarily losing out on sizeable money isn't something they can afford to do.

Heckingbottom will want to feel backed by the Preston board in terms of being able to build a strong squad, and thus, Keane's future could be vitally important to the club for a multitude of reasons.