Preston North End had the busiest transfer window out of everyone in the EFL, seeing eight players arrive at Deepdale but also eight of their own depart.

Key first-teamers like Ben Davies, Ben Pearson and Darnell Fisher moved on to pastures new, whilst youngsters Josh Earl and Ethan Walker have gone to gain some much-needed minutes further down the footballing pyramid.

But for the first time in a long while, North End have brought a lot of bodies in through the door, including seven loanees - the pick of them being Everton starlet Anthony Gordon.

The Lilywhites now have strength in depth to make a charge at the play offs, but a couple of players will find themselves on the periphery of the 20-man matchday squad.

Let's look at two of them who may feel disappointed that they are still at Deepdale until at least the end of the season.

 

Quiz: Did each of these 18 ex-Preston North End players ever score a goal at Deepdale?

 

 

Tom Bayliss

Bayliss was an exciting signing from Coventry in the summer of 2019 for an undisclosed fee (some believe it was £2 million, exceeding Preston's previous £1.8 million record - the Lancashire Post say it was between £1.5m and £1.8m).

But so far it's not worked out for the 21-year-old, who made just one league appearance last season and has notched up eight so far in 2020/21, although the majority have been from the bench.

Pearson's departure has been offset by the incomings of Whiteman and Jayson Molumby, knocking Bayliss further down the pecking order, and he really needed a loan move to get some valuable minutes.

But nothing came to fruition and Bayliss' potential is being wasted by sitting on the bench - or not even in the squad at all sometimes.

Billy Bodin

Another player who has struggled for game-time, Bodin has started just one league game this campaign - the season-opening encounter against Swansea - but then it seems like another knee injury ruled him out for months.

The winger made his first appearance since September at the weekend when he came on as a late substitute against Sheffield Wednesday, but Alex Neil's signing of Gordon from Everton looks to have shunted Bodin down the pecking order even further.

He's out of contract at the end of the season and it doesn't look likely that he will be offered a new one - so Preston fans may well have seen the last of Bodin.