Preston North End attacking midfielder or wideman Josh Harrop is on the Blues’ list of January loan targets.
Discussions have been ongoing with the Lilywhites for more than a week but we understand a deal is currently not close to being done with incoming business at Deepdale - Ben Whiteman is close to signing from Doncaster - potentially having an impact on whether Harrop will be allowed to move on.
Town manager Paul Lambert wants to give his players some help in the January window with general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill having said that the Blues are looking for attacking players.
We understand Harrop is high on Town’s list of potential signings along with Luke Thomas, who is looking to move to play more games having had limited opportunities at Barnsley.
Another player TWTD has learned the Blues were keen on is 18-year-old Manchester City winger Morgan Rogers, who opted to join Lincoln City on loan last week.
Harrop, who may have been the player Stuart Taylor said Town had hoped to sign before the weekend game against Swindon, joined Preston in June 2017 having come through the youth system at Manchester United, where he made one Premier League start for the Red Devils in a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace on the final day of 2016/17 and scored the opening goal.
The 25-year-old, who is 5ft 9in tall, has made 39 starts and 55 sub appearances for Preston, scoring 13 times.
However, this season Stockport-born Harrop has made four starts, one in the Championship, and four appearances from the bench, scoring once.
Capped three times by England’s U20s, Harrop signed a new contract at Deepdale which runs to 2023 in August.
At 25, Harrop counts as a senior player in terms of the salary cap with the club having a limit of 22 players aged over 21.