Preston North End must be thinking about future Spurs transfer - it might cost big bucks | OneFootball

Preston North End have had a fantastic season so far, helped excessively by the efforts of Premier League loanee midfielder Alfie Devine

It has been an up-and-down start to 2026 for Preston North End – they won two games without conceding to start the year, then lost four straight in all competitions without scoring.

They finished January with a course-correcting draw against fellow promotion hunters Ipswich Town, before a win over Portsmouth last weekend to climb back up to seventh in the Championship table.

Despite the inconsistency of it all, one player who has maintained his bulletproof popularity at Deepdale is Tottenham loanee and now joint leading goalscorer in the league for the Lilywhites, Alfie Devine.

If the difference he makes for Preston leads to a serious promotion push, the club may have no choice but to spend big to secure his services upon the end of his loan deal.

Alfie Devine has enjoyed a breakout season at Preston North End

The 21-year-old joined PNE on August 8th for a 12-month temporary stint away from parent club Tottenham Hotspur, becoming the club’s 10th arrival of the summer, and their second of four on loan from the Premier League.

Upon signing on the dotted line, Devine told the club website: “I’m buzzing. When this opportunity came about, I was excited when I first heard about it. I’m happy to be here and happy to get it done. I can’t wait to get going tomorrow.

“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.”

It did not take long for the attacking midfielder to put his money where his mouth was, scoring an excellent goal on his full debut - a 2-1 home win against newly relegated Leicester City.

He has kicked on since then, ascending to a position where, after scoring the only goal in a home victory over Pompey this past Saturday, he has managed the second-most goal contributions in Lilywhite since the start of the season in all competitions.

In December, after two consecutive Man of the Match performances against Sheffield Wednesday and Wrexham, Devine again spoke to the club website, saying: “I want to play as much as I can, stay in the game for as long as I can and obviously help the team as much as I possibly can. So far I'm loving it.

“The fans have taken to me, players, staff, so I'm pretty sure every single other boy that's come in this summer can say the exact same thing as well. It’s just about keeping that good feeling going and see what'll happen.”

Devine’s desire to play consistently has certainly been fulfilled so far. He has featured in the joint-most league games for Preston this season, tied with long-time defender Jordan Storey and captain Ben Whiteman, showing how dependable he is considered to be by Heckingbottom and company.

In fact, the only game in which he was not part of the 18-man squad was the reverse fixture against Portsmouth – a 1-0 defeat for Preston.

PNE will need to break the bank to keep Devine beyond this summer

As one of the few Championship teams to have never reaped the benefits of a billionaire investor, or a Premier League relegation parachute payment, Preston have often been frugal with their spending.

Until just over a week ago, PNE’s record signing was Montenegrin firecracker Milutin Osmajic, who set the club back a reported €2.5m (£2.15m) in 2023 when joining from Cadiz, per Radio Cadiz reporter Ignacio de la Varga on X – when the club officially announced his arrival, his fee was undisclosed.

To put that into perspective, last summer, Ipswich Town broke the Championship transfer record with their signing of Norwegian youngster Sindre Walle Egeli, putting down £17.5m for his services, per BBC Sport – that exceeds Osmajic’s import value eight times over with change to spare.

As of deadline day in the most recent winter window, that status now belongs to new arrival Callum Lang, who joined Preston from Portsmouth for a fee that has been confirmed as a new record by the club themselves, despite remaining undisclosed.

Whatever that fee is, it may not be a record that Lang holds for very long. As was first illustrated by the club themselves upon Devine’s arrival at Deepdale, and as has been recently reiterated by the LEP: “PNE have inserted a buy-option - albeit expensive - into his loan agreement."

How expensive exactly that buy option will be is currently subject to speculation, with George Hodgson of the Lancashire Post suggesting on X that the fee would exceed £4m – not too far removed from double what was paid for Osmajic three years ago.

Devine has proven his value to Preston amidst rumours of a permanent transfer

Adding perhaps the most fuel to this particular fire was a chat between the Lancashire Post and PNE CEO Peter Ridsdale, during which the board member said of the club’s option to sign Devine in the summer: “We have exclusive rights and, in fact, we’ve already agreed personal terms, were the option to be exercised.”

That is a massive step in the right direction for Preston, and it is complimented by the news that North End will also be allowed to spread the payment over a few years, in a structured deal.

His impact at Preston has been undeniable, and if the club were to force their way back into the play-off places and potentially sneak into the Premier League for the first time in their history due to what Devine can produce for them in the next few months, then a permanent deal would be a given.

However, if this isn’t to be the season for PNE to earn promotion, then risking a new record fee on the Spurs man could be the best chance they can give themselves to get the job done next season, or further down the line.