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.

Photo: Action Images

TBT added 13:56 - Jan 13 It's incredible. Despite the intolerable demise of our great football team under his tenure, there are still people that resolutely defend Mr Evans and lap up his corporate BS that appears every six months. Have you noticed he has never attended a supporters forum?
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TBT added 14:06 - Jan 13 He did do a radio interview with Mark Murphy once but he supplied the questions and only agreed to do the interview on this basis.
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stiggytrunk1955 added 14:31 - Jan 13 pehaps we should be looking for a new manager than new players and when we get one clear out the poor ones we have before getting new ones in
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Cheshire_Blue added 15:08 - Jan 13 I am so encouraged by the positivity shown by our 'support'.
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Linkboy13 added 18:14 - Jan 13 Yes wonthecupin78 spot on if not two tacking midfielders this would give Bishop and Downes more Freedom to Express themselves attacking wise. The rest of our midfield squad are just too lightweight and don't offer enough for me.
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WorcesterBlue added 18:21 - Jan 13 We don't need another winger!! We need some strength, pace and guile in CM and full backs. We looked a different team when Downes and Norwood came on. Oh and a different Manager. Had 2 years, we're even worse than we were. Time for a change.
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Dissboyitfc added 20:02 - Jan 13 here's a thought! i wonder if Morgan Rogers read this website, then decided to join Lincoln! We certainly dont make it sound appealing do we! How are we going to get in the players to make a difference if we send them to our rivals! just a thought!
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