Preston North End backed to beat Celtic and Wolves to £5m Spurs deal | OneFootball

Preston North End's club-record signing of Alfie Devine could bring other signings into Deepdale this summer.

Having looked as though they would seriously challenge for promotion mid-way through last season, Preston North End drifted to a frustrating mid-table finish in the Championship.

For a second successive season under the management of Paul Heckingbottom, a poor second-half to the season undermined Preston’s overall campaign.

In the 2024/25 season, having been firmly ensconced in the middle-of-the-table, a collapse in the spring meant they didn’t mathematically confirm their survival until the final day of the season.

Then, a year later, the Lancastrians looked like genuine top two challengers at the turn of the year, only to drift into the bottom-half of the table by May.

This summer, Preston will want to sustain themselves a bit better and, amid talk of a potential takeover, that could lead to a busy summer transfer window in order to provide a bit more depth for the squad.

Alfie Devine signing could help Preston attract others

Having spent last season on loan at Deepdale, it has now been reported that Preston are set to sign the Warrington-born midfielder Alfie Devine for a fee of £5 million from Tottenham Hotspur.

Something of a statement signing, as well as being the club-record as they beat off reported competition from Celtic and Wolverhampton Wanderers, FLW’s Preston Fan Pundit Darren Watson believes Devine’s permanent arrival could also help North End bring in other players to the club.

Darren says: “It looks like we’re going to win the race for Alfie Devine, triggering that clause in the contract to speak to the player and pay that amount of money over a couple of seasons.

“We all know about Preston’s tight budget but with this news of a potential takeover happening, we know that investment can come from other areas as well.

“I think he’s a brilliant player. Alfie Devine was brilliant on the loan he had from Tottenham Hotspur to Preston North End.

“I think he is one of them players that we can actually build the squad around and we can actually go out and entice more players in, even on loans as well because of how good he has done on the loan, and get some more decent players in, have a look in the market and see what we can do.

“Alfie Devine, brilliant player. Celtic and Wolves, there is interest there and they can offer a bit more money but we can offer him a starting position in the team.”

Alfie Devine was excellent for Preston last season

Having come through at Liverpool and Wigan Athletic before moving down to Tottenham in the summer of 2020, Alfie Devine has remained highly-rated throughout the early part of his career.

The versatile midfielder, who turns 22 in August, could only force his way into a first-team appearance at Spurs on a couple of occasions, despite scoring in one of those – in an FA Cup third round tie against Marine when under the management of Jose Mourinho.

Devine enjoyed positive loan spells at Port Vale and Plymouth Argyle in the 2023/24 campaign before further asserting himself as a prospect in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League at Westerlo in the 2024/25 campaign.

The former England youth international then became one of the better young midfielders in the Championship last season, playing 45 times for Preston in the second-tier and scoring eight goals, with only forward Lewis Dobbin scoring more than him.

He also provided six assists for Preston last season, again only beaten by Dobbin, while also massively contributing in the defensive side of the game with 1.4 tackles per game and winning the ball back 0.5 times per game in the final third (only bettered by Thierry Small and Dobbin) and 2.1 times per game in midfield (only bettered by Ben Whiteman).

Devine is an all-action midfielder that has already shown he can be instrumental in both aspects for the game in a tough division and, given his age, is likely to only go and become even more dominant for Preston – and his signing represents a bit of a coup for The Lilywhites.