After day one of pre-season at Euxton, manager Ryan Lowe sat down with iFollow PNE to discuss the summer and his plans for the next few weeks.
Most of the North End players returned to training on Monday ahead of a busy month of friendlies in July, with a few of the lads still to return following international duty.
On day one, the team underwent some performance testing in the gym with the fitness and sports science department, before taking to the pitch for some ball work.
A closer look inside this morning's testing. 🥵#pnefc pic.twitter.com/PUuQgplJ2v
— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) June 26, 2023
Ryan said: “It’s good to see them. We’ve got the international lads that will join back up with us and Ched [Evans] on Thursday/Friday so that’ll be good to get them back as well and have the group as one.
“We had a small meeting with them this morning about what the week looks like and the monthly schedule – going away to Spain – and we’ll do that with the lads who are coming back on Thursday and Friday.
“It’s nice to see their faces. Sometimes you can’t wait to see the back of the players towards the back end of the season,” he joked, “but it’s been a pleasure to see them all today in good spirits, all fit and healthy which is important as well.”
So far this summer, PNE have brought Calvin Ramsay to the club on loan from Liverpool, with that deal set to kick in on 15th July.
The manager admitted, though, that work is ongoing to add to the squad in the coming weeks and that a few deals are in the pipeline.
He said: “We’d have liked to have had one or two more potentially through the door, but it hasn’t been for the lack of trying.
“We got down the line with one and it petered out a little bit, but to get Calvin done early doors [was good].
“He’s with Liverpool for the time being. He’ll come to Spain with us and then he’ll be with us full-time after that. He’s just recovering from a niggling injury he had.
“Liverpool want to keep him there which is fine and that’s good by us, but he’ll be ready to go when he comes. He’ll be game ready which is important.
“We’re down the line with a few players. We’ve got meetings with agents and Zoom calls and everything else which goes with it which is hard work.
“The last week’s been tough in terms of the calls we’ve got to make and the Zooms you’ve got to do, presentations you’ve got to do, but it’s part and parcel.
“We’re on with one or two today. There’s a couple of potential offers out there already as of today, we’ve made sure we got those out.
“I’m quite comfortable with where we are. I think the whole business is quite slow, but as I’ve said numerous times we’ve got to recruit smartly and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”