Preston North End have worked admirably on a shoestring budget in recent years but that has meant the club have also seen plenty of flops pass through their door.

They've uncovered solid players like Ben Pearson, Callum Robinson and Daniel Johnson, who cost the club a combined total of less than £1m.

However, shopping in the bargain buckets has also meant they've picked up a few not so impressive players along the way.

Whether it merely didn't work out at Deepdale for some of these names and they've fared better elsewhere or whether it was simply just a bad move, there are a few names that spring to mind.

Here then, are eight of the most underwhelming signings for PNE and where they currently play their football.

Izzy Brown is the most recent name on this list and perhaps only gets on this list above others signed in the same summer as the former Chelsea man because of the untapped potential he seemingly has and just wasn't able to realise at Deepdale.

It's a real shame that PNE never really got to see the player get going and have moved on from the player already. Brown looked solid for the Blues in their youth setup and then continued to impress for both Rotherham and Huddersfield in his teens. With the former side for example, he produced three goals and four assists in just 17 league starts.

He joined North End on a free and the club's fans would have been hoping for plenty of excitement with the attacking midfielder. Instead, he suffered an injury that ruled him out for the entirety of the campaign and they have now let him go on a free without ever playing in the second tier for them. He is currently without a club and will be hoping to finally get going again once he finds a new team. North End fans will certainly be wishing him all the best.

The second coming of the club hero didn't go quite to plan.

There was plenty of furore when he completed a return to Deepdale from Derby back in 2019/20 but it quickly became apparent that his best days were behind him. Having previously managed double digit hauls for the Lilywhites in his previous spell there, he couldn't get going this time around.

He made 24 league appearances in total - 11 of which were starts - but just couldn't find the back of the net on a regular basis. He did bag one goal for the side but he was quickly allowed to join up with Tranmere Rovers on loan before leaving entirely.

He is currently on the hunt for a new team, like Izzy Brown.

Considering some of the other loan and permanent prospects PNE had snapped up from Aston Villa at the time, the signing of Andre Green on a short-term deal looked like good business.

However, he was never really given a chance to shine at Deepdale and the 21-year-old never got going. He had to make do with plenty of time on the bench and out of the squad entirely and never managed a league start for Preston during his time at the club. In fact, he only ever managed four league appearances with not a goal to his name during the stint at PNE.

He's since left Villa on a permanent basis and after some time with Sheffield Wednesday, he has swapped England for Slovakia and plays for Slovan Bratislava.

Almost a goal every other game for Shamrock Rovers in Ireland would have you think North End were getting a very good deal when they signed Graham Burke back in the 2018/19 season.

So the club's fans thought anyway, as they believed that he would be a player similar to Sean Maguire that had come to England and bagged the goals rather freely. Burke though didn't quite have the same impact as his fellow countryman.

He had 12 league appearances to his name for the club and six starts and flattered to deceive. He did bag one goal but a return of just 0.19 goals per 90 wasn't enough to warrant the club to keep him. Instead, they sent him out on various loans until his contract expired and they sent him permanently back to Shamrock Rovers, where he still plays now.

Like Burke, the defender also joined to some furore in Ireland but never had the same impact in England.

He spent three years with Preston but only ever got onto the field eight times during that spell in the league and couldn't emulate the same kind of form in the Championship. The defender had looked solid for Cork City but after dipping in and out of the North End lineup and failing to capitalise on his opportunities, he spent most of his time out of the squad entirely.

Loan spells in England and Ireland went the same way before he was eventually sold on in 2020. He left for Shelbourne briefly but is now back for his third spell with Cork.

It looks like it was just the wrong move at the wrong time for Stephy Mavididi at Preston, especially when you look at the way he is performing now in France.

At 19-years-old, he made the move to Deepdale on a loan deal from parent club Arsenal and would no doubt have liked to prove his worth in the second tier ahead of a return to the Emirates Stadium and more gametime. The youngster though never really got ample chance to do so. He was given ten league games but most of those came from off the bench, with only three starts during that time.

It meant he never hit the back of the net for North End and there was not too much fuss when his deal ended and he returned to the Gunners. In fact, there was more surprise when he ended up joining Juventus and even more so when he began to impress in Ligue 1.

He now plays for Montpellier and has been arguably one of their standout players of the last season.

When Ben Pringle played for Rotherham, North End clearly sat up and took notice. With his 29 assists and 19 goals for the club, PNE played the waiting game and when he eventually became available after leaving Fulham in 2016, Preston moved to sign him on a permanent deal.

Based on his past performances, it looked like the club had landed a really solid player. However, things could not have gone worse for him at Deepdale and he went out with a whimper more than a bang. His first season there brought only ten league games and no goals and he was then shipped out to Oldham, Grimsby and Tranmere on loan as PNE made it clear there was no room for him in the side.

Now, Pringle has dropped out of the football pyramid and plays for Altrincham in the National League.

Stevie May is the last name on this list and this move lands a place in this article for the fee involved, the hype around the deal and for his goal records before and after Preston.

The striker secured a hefty six-figure move to PNE back in the 2015/16 campaign and the club's fans were delighted to see him join. They thought there would be plenty of goals added to their strikeforce via the man who had just banged in 20 for St Johnstone and seven more for Sheffield Wednesday.

Instead, they got a forward that struggled to stay fit because of some bad luck with injuries and a player that bagged only one league goal for the side during his time there. He only ever managed 11 league games for the side before leaving for Scotland again.

Now, May plays for St Johnstone and has had much better luck with getting onto the field and finding the back of the net.