New signing Ryan Ledson began his career at Everton, and impressed while in the youth system with the Toffees before his departure to increase his game time in the men's game.
Last week the PNE Podcast caught up with Ledson's former coach Alan Stubbs who is delighted to see the young midfielder continue to progress in his career after leaving the Merseyside club.
Speaking on episode 41 of the club's official podcast, the former Everton defender gave a glowing report on Alex Neil's first signing of the summer.
"I've followed Ryan's progress since leaving Everton and he's gone on to do really well at Oxford and I suppose this is a natural progression for him and I think it's a great move for him.
"First of all he is a great lad, I had the pleasure of working with him and helping him develop his game and he's a pleasure to coach and to manage. He has got a fantastic attitude, a real desire to win and do the best he can and I'm sure that will stand him in good stead at Preston.
"I think the Preston fans will really enjoy his style of football, he's an all action type of player, he likes a tackle, he's a good passer, he will try and dominate midfield and he can get forward. So I'm sure they will be excited to see him in a Preston North End shirt."
Ledson made the difficult decision to leave his boyhood club to further his career, something Stubbs feels reflects the character he is and the desire he has to succeed in the game.
"Ryan obviously spent a number of years at Everton and they had a lot of optimism for him that he could go on and really progress. I think the best thing for him was to go out on loan and then go to Oxford and develop his way and gain the experience from that." Stubbs continued.
"He has certainly proved that to be a good decision, he has gone from strength to strength. He is a leader, I think that's the biggest attribute I can label to him. He has a fantastic work ethic, he will drag the team in times of need and he's an absolute manager's dream I would say. Ryan has a real appetite to win and do well at everything that he does so I'm sure that's going to stand him in real good stead.
"I think it just shows you his appetite to go on and prove himself, he could have happily stayed at Everton and played in the U23s and gone on loan every now and then and come back but that's not in Ryan's make up, he's not that type of player.
"That's him in a nutshell. He didn't just want to accept being at Everton and playing what at times can be a little bit false football, and he's gone on and proved himself and he's reaping the rewards of it now."
The new recruit may only be 20 years of age but already has over 100 league appearances to his name, and his former coach believes that will stand him in good stead ahead of the new season at PNE.
"I think when you look at some young people who are in the game now, to have reached 100 games at Ryan's age already is fantastic for him.
"Most importantly he's got that experience under his belt already for someone of such a young age, I think that's why he finds himself in a position where he's signed for a big club in Preston North End at his tender age of 20."
You can listen to the full interview with Stubbs on the PNE Podcast now on iTunes and SoundCloud, where the former Everton man also discusses another PNE player he previously worked with in Darnell Fisher and why he feels there is still more to come from the former Celtic man.
Also on the podcast is part two of our season review and we have the latest edition of 'Talk of the Terrace'.