Matthew Olosunde is excited to meet his new team-mates on Thursday morning when the PNE squad return for their first day of pre-season.
The 23-year-old finalised his move to Deepdale on Wednesday evening, putting pen to paper on a two-year deal which will begin on 1st July.
The full back, who has spent the last two years with Rotherham United, made the decision to leave the Millers this summer and will now become a Lilywhite following the expiration of his contract.
Speaking to iFollow PNE, Matthew said: “I’m very happy for this opportunity and I’m excited to start this new journey and give all I can for the club.
“I’m happy to be given this opportunity to go back to the Championship and show what I can do at that level.
“I’m definitely looking forward to getting into it and getting to grips with things, and meeting all the lads. It’s always good getting to meet new people and make new friends so I’m very excited.
“Hopefully fans are back. I’m definitely excited to try and make an impression on everyone and give my all for the fans, for the club and for everyone watching out there.”
Matthew, who has been capped once internationally for the United States, has experienced both promotion and relegation into and out of the Championship with Rotherham over the past two seasons.
While the memories that come with that aren’t all positive, the defender feels they’ve benefitted him in his career.
“I feel like that’s definitely helped,” added Matthew. “With promotion, not everyone gets to experience that in their career and I’m glad I was able to with Rotherham and obviously relegation.
“The good and the bad comes with being part of football. I’m happy that I experienced it and I feel like I’ve learned a lot from it.
“I felt like it was just that time to move on [from Rotherham]. I’m grateful for everything they’ve done for me and I could never have a bad word to say about them so I’m grateful, it was just one of those things.”
Matthew originally grew up back in the States and spent time with New York Red Bulls, but moved over to the UK when Manchester United came calling in 2016.
He went on to spend a few years with their U23s side, alongside the likes of Josh Harrop and Sam Johnstone, before leaving for Rotherham in 2019.
On his time with United, Matthew said: “I definitely enjoyed it. It was a great experience at a massive club.
“I have a lot of memories there and made a lot of friends, a lot of coaches as well that I always keep in my mind. I really enjoyed it and I was thankful to them for what they did for me.”
Watch Matthew’s full interview with iFollow PNE by clicking play on the video above.