This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Preston North End are close to solving their goalkeeper crisis with the signing of Newcastle United stopper Freddie Woodman, as reported by The Northern Echo.

North End currently do not have a senior goalkeeper on the books, and it is a position that manager Ryan Lowe needs to resolve before pre-season gets underway towards the end of the month.

And with Daniel Iversen not available for another loan right now from Leicester City, the Lilywhites are set to swoop for Woodman, who won the Golden Glove award in the second tier two seasons ago with Swansea City.

 

 

 

 

The 25-year-old appears to not have a future at the Magpies, with the Echo reporting that the loan deal will have a clause in to potentially turn Woodman's temporary stay at Deepdale into a full-time one next year.

FLW's PNE fan pundit Sam Weeden has given the seal of approval to Woodman's seemingly imminent arrival, and has even claimed that it is better than trying to secure Iversen's signature once again.

"A bit of a controversial opinion but I think getting Freddie Woodman on loan with a view to a permanent transfer is probably a much better piece of business than trying to get Daniel Iversen on another loan," Sam said.

"I think a big issue for Preston North End, despite being blessed with some good quality loan goalkeepers down the years - Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone, Declan Rudd and Iversen last year - I think a real challenge for us has been trying to get someone long-term.

"He's a good goalkeeper, he's got experience at Championship level, he's also a good age to push on and develop, and I think Freddie Woodman gives us that.

"He's got a really good pedigree, played two years at Swansea, finishing sixth and fourth, so he's got that winning mentality about him, and he also kept the most clean sheets in the league in 2020-21 so that's a really good stat to have.

"I think it's a brilliant signing, he's a really good age and it's a good piece of business. We can really tie down a long-term goalkeeper that I think a lot of Championship clubs and Championship fans will see Preston hopefully pull off this transfer and be quite envious of it - over the moon if we pull it off."

The Verdict

With no goalkeepers on the books and pre-season only a few weeks away, any addition in-between the sticks for North End at the moment will be a welcome one.

However, someone of Woodman's ilk would be much welcomed at Deepdale and would certainly be a viable alternative to Iversen, who is set for bigger and better things.

Woodman was perhaps unlucky to run into Mark Travers at Bournemouth last season when he signed in January - thanks to the Irishman's performances he never got a sniff of Championship action for the Cherries.

He can head to Deepdale though as the undisputed first-choice of Ryan Lowe - providing no-one tries a late hijack fo the deal.