Ryan Lowe will be taking the positives from Preston North End's first two Championship matches of the 2022-23 season, but there are still some glaring improvements that need to be made in the near future off the back of those games.

The Lilywhites' contests - away at Wigan Athletic and at home against Hull City - both ended as goalless draws and showed that perhaps North End weren't exactly firing on all cylinders in the final third.

They had plenty of chances in both matches that were all spurned, but on the defensive side of things PNE were extremely solid - despite some supporter concerns that the back three were potentially the weak point of the team going into the campaign.

One particular area of concern has been at right wing-back, where Ryan Lowe has expressed a desire to add a quick, creative player to battle with Brad Potts, who was steady enough in the second half of the previous campaign.

Potts has started both league matches this season so far, but he's failed to be very creative in either - although he did net in Tuesday night's 4-1 drubbing of Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup.

A break-through has seemingly been made in Lowe's pursuit of a right-sided player though as he confirmed earlier this week that PNE are awaiting a contract and a confirmation for the individual in question.

Who may that be though? Speculation was rife that Arsenal teenager Brooke Norton-Cuffy, who excelled at Lincoln City in the second half of last season, was the player, and that only accelerated when David Ornstein reported that he had extended his contract with the Gunners and that he could head to a second tier side on loan.

The new Twitter talk that, in somewhat of a coup, it could be Manchester United's Ethan Laird, who was most recently said to be closing in on a move to Watford.

A week has passed though and all the talk of Laird heading to Vicarage Road has gone quiet, with little online murmurs that instead, the 21-year-old may now be heading to Deepdale.

And Laird would certainly fit the bill of what Lowe wants. He's quick, very attack-minded and can get up and down the pitch, and he's a player who certainly has Championship experience, having spent last season with both Swansea City and AFC Bournemouth.

In the first half of the campaign with the Swans, Laird notched three assists, and that would have probably been a figure that increased if he remained in South Wales for the whole season.

Instead, United switched him to the Cherriers, a place where he got little game-time, but the recent speculation of a switch to Watford made a ton of sense considering he appears to be a top-end second tier player.

Looking at the bigger picture though, PNE could be the ideal fit for Laird.

Manchester United have been confident enough to send another top young wing-back in Alvaro Fernandez to North End for the season, and in his first start of the season he bagged two assists in the EFL Cup against Huddersfield.

Laird on the other side of the pitch could give North End two genuine creative outlets out wide, and it would make sense from a United standpoint to have two of their highly-rated youngsters at the same club - which is pretty local to them as well.

Whilst it remains internet chatter for now, Laird could now genuinely be a viable and realistic addition for PNE this summer, although it remains to be seen who the wing-back that Ryan Lowe almost has in through the door is.