Simon Grayson believes that the capture of Paul Gallagher from Leicester City will give him such much needed versatility in his attacking options.
The gaffer was speaking exclusively with PNE.Com following the news that North End had signed Gallagher on a short term loan deal from the Foxes and he is hoping that the arrival of the striker will help bolster the Lilywhites’ attacking threat.
Grayson said: “We felt that we wanted to improve the squad and looked at certain positions and areas of the pitch that we could strengthen and Paul is obviously an experienced Championship player, played in the Premiership and can play in a variation of positions.
“He can play wide left, wide right, behind the striker or as an out and out forward, so we felt it was a good opportunity to use the base that we have had recently to kick on with making an improvement within our squad.
“He will bring a couple of things that one or two of our other attacking players don’t do.
“As I said, he can play in a number of positions which helps you in the preparation for games and in games to change it around if and when you need it to.
“I am delighted to get him, I thank Leicester for allowing him to come for a couple of months and then we will see where it goes after that.
“It gives me the flexibility to go and change things around whenever we need to do and we are obviously delighted to secure him and it just adds to the competition for places we already have at the football Club.”
The new PNE No.12 is no stranger to Deepdale, having played for the Lilywhites during a four month loan spell back in 2007/08.
And despite the environment being different now, the surroundings remain very much the same, meaning that Gallagher is well in the loop as to what is expected at Deepdale.
“He is fully aware of what we have been doing recently, what the fans are like, so I think it works in many situations for all concerned,” stated Grayson.
“It is a different environment, different group of players, but he knows what it is all about and what matters at this football Club and I think if you ask him, he just can’t wait to get out and play again and help us win a few more matches and build of what a good start we he made to the season already.
“I know Nigel Pearson and the staff at Leicester quite well and I know Paul as well.
“He was at Blackburn when I was doing some coaching badges when I was finishing my career at Blackpool and I played in a testimonial with him in the summer and I have always kept an eye out.
“It is a good signing for us and it is testament to him that he has turned down four Championship clubs in the last week or so because he has had this opportunity to come to us which says a lot for our football Club and what we can do to attract players.”