Manager Alex Neil spoke to PNE.Com after the signing of Lukas Nmecha and reflected on the transfer window as a whole.
The Preston North End boss feels that the work done, right at the start of the summer, added to with the recent incoming loans, makes for an excellent summer’s business for the club.
“Permanent deals are the main things we want to get done and a lot of people forget that we made five permanent signings, because we did them so early in the window,” he told the official website. “If we had racked up seven signings in the last two weeks, everybody would be buzzing.
“What we have to do is take a stock of the window as a whole and I think we have done some fantastic business.
“I think you can see the strategy that the club has got, of bringing in young, hungry talent, which we hope will kick on and go and be top players and my job is to try and help them get there.”
His new No.45 is someone he was delighted to get over the line and feels is was a real coup for the club to get the England U21 star: “We have been targeting this for a while now,” he continued. “I believe we have signed one of the brightest centre forwards in the country at his age group.
“Manchester City have got really high hopes for him. He has spent the last six months training with their first team and we have managed to persuade him that the next stage of his development is to come and play for Preston North End.
“I think it a huge compliment of what we are trying to do and hopefully this will be a mutually beneficial move for both parties.
“He has had a look at the type of squad we have, what we try to do with players, in terms of making them better and our style of play and he thinks it is something that will transfer well into his game. All in all, it is a big feather in our cap as a club and we can’t wait to get him started.
“He is a big lad, he is over six foot, he can take the ball in, he can run away from the ball, he has pace and more importantly he can score goals.
“We are hoping that we can bring his game together for him, certainly at a senior level, but like the likes of Tammy Abraham, Kasey Palmer and these other lads who have come out from big clubs and done remarkably well at our level, I think Lukas is in a similar mould to them.”
He also feels 19-year-old Lukas will settle straight into the group: “Signing Brandon as well will help him. I am sure Lukas will be aware of some of the other lads as well, from playing against them at youth levels and I expect him to fit right in.
“I have spent time with him and spoken to him and he is a really nice lad and is just hungry to do well, so things are looking very bright at the moment.
“We don’t want to stand still, we are desperate to do better than we did last season. We needed to strengthen for that to be the case; we knew that and we had been hurt with two injuries to key players, but what we have managed to do is get two very young and exciting players that can hopefully come in and do well for themselves and help us.
“I am pleased that Lukas chose us.
“My job is to make my younger players better and try and improve them and try and kick them on to have a fantastic career and I will be aiming to do the same with Lukas,” he added.