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Town Complete Harrop Signing
Wednesday, 20th Jan 2021 12:31

Town have completed the signing of Preston North End attacking midfielder Josh Harrop on loan until the end of the season.

Harrop, who will wear the number 33 shirt, trained with his new team-mates this morning then completed the remaining paperwork relating to his switch.

TWTD revealed on Monday morning that Harrop was set to travel to Portman Road to finalise his switch, however, the move has been delayed following a thorough medical as the Blues scrutinised any issues relating to the cruciate knee ligament damage the former Manchester United trainee suffered in October 2018, and also due to the additional red tape created by the League One salary cap.

The deal has been confirmed subject to salary cap ratification by the EFL with the Blues close to the £2.5 million limit.

At 25, Harrop counts as a senior player in terms of the cap, which was introduced last summer, unlike 21-year-old Luke Thomas who signed on loan from Barnsley yesterday, with the club limited to a squad of 22 players aged over 21.

Harrop, who prefers to play as a number 10 but also operates wide on the left, joined Preston in June 2017 having come through the youth system at Old Trafford, where he made one Premier League start in a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace on the final day of 2016/17 and scored the opening goal.

Born in Stockport, Harrop, who was the player assistant boss Stuart Taylor said the Blues were hoping to sign prior to the Swindon match, has made 39 starts and 55 sub appearances for Preston, scoring 13 times including a number of free-kicks.

However, this season 5ft 9in tall Harrop has made only four starts, one in the Championship, and four appearances from the bench, scoring once. He was left out of the 20-man squad which lost 2-0 at Bristol City at the weekend.

Capped three times by England’s U20s, Harrop signed a new contract at Deepdale in August which runs to 2023.


Photos: ITFC



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unknown100 added 12:42 - Jan 20
Happy with this signing, be good to have a dead ball specialist (mcguiness to finish top scorer with his heading ability!)

I'm guessing he's sticking with the 4231/433 so if the 2 new lads with Edwards and Norwood then either downes, dozzell or bishop miss out?

Unless downes is off? Make or break the next 2 games so hopefully they give us a much needed boost!
8

Radlett_blue added 12:45 - Jan 20
Harrop has signed a new contract so no way would we be able to afford him permanently unless we are promoted. We already have a whole team of midfield players so unless he's substantially better than what we have, what's the point,
I will eat my words if he proves to be the missing link & fires Town to promotion.
2

Upthetown1970 added 12:51 - Jan 20
I'm a bit confused as to why we have made 2 midfield signings. Looking at the 2 new signings records I dont believe they will improve our team. I hope I'm proved wrong. I was hoping the club would use a combination on youth and experience and give our youngsters some much needed experience of their own.
1

casanovacrow added 12:53 - Jan 20
In the long term, if we fail to get promoted, these loans don't look all that smart to me. We seem very short sighted.
-6

Reuserscurtains added 12:56 - Jan 20
The negativity towards this makes me laughs.
1. He is better than what we have already got
2. We need promotion this year
3. We couldn't afford to buy him, so that's why we are loaning
4. Our players have had long enough and are either injured or dead wood
Lastly, if Ipswich hadn't of made these signings, it would have been “no ambition”!!!
Good addition
47

Saxonblue74 added 13:01 - Jan 20
Good. Now get them both in the starting line up for Saturday and let's see if they shake things up a little.
15

ArnieM added 13:04 - Jan 20
I feel we have the players in this squad to get us out of this division. The problem is the player combinations being chosen ....by Lambert! THIS is where the issue lays
14

johnwarksshorts added 13:05 - Jan 20
Upthetown, did you not see the video footage of Harrop? Ever seen any of our midfielders score goals like that? I would put him and Thomas straight into the starting 11 against P'Boro.
Welcome Josh
16

Marcus added 13:09 - Jan 20
Welcome. Hopefully a sign things are improving
2

Ipswichbusiness added 13:11 - Jan 20
So, this transfer window we have signed a left-footed winger who plays on the right and an attacking central midfielder who can play wide left.

Why do I have this sense of impending doom?
-9

LWNR2013 added 13:12 - Jan 20
Never heard of them. Wish them well at ITFC 👍
-1

budgieplucker added 13:21 - Jan 20
Gives the side a bit of freshness, takes the pressure off one or two of our younger players.

Dobra, El Miz and even perhaps Jack can feel disappointed but a loan for any of thsee three to show they can rip it up in Div 2 might be a very good move. I certainly don't thing Dobs or El Miz are ready to show the form that they should be starting every week albeit in glimpses we know they are all talent youngsters.

Huws and Judge both good footballers and I wouldn't fault their effort or professionalism but they have both struggled to show the form needed to catapult us to the top of this league. Skuse another one having been a good robust player has in the least couple of seasons been injury prone. I would suggest regardless which league we are playing in next year we shouldn't be renewing or extending their contracts. With that being the case then I would either try to move them on now or make clear to them that they will at best be benchwarmers unless we have a another major bout of injuries. With the former two we certainly have not got anywhere near the value of their contracts returned on the field of play.

Some might argue Freddie in this category as well, who in my opinion has still had a number of good chances to score but lacked sharpness to deliver.

Sadly I have been a great fan of the four pros I have just mentioned but it's time for sentiment to go out of the window to get this club moving in the right direction. I have failed to mention the skipper only because I think the abuse he receives on these forums is unwarranted.
16

DifferentGravy added 13:29 - Jan 20
Looking forward to seeing these new signings and hoping they can somehow fix the issues with Shamberts tactics..............
3

Sixto6 added 13:29 - Jan 20
Not many of our current squad have shown that they are good enough for a serious promotion push, so if these boys are better than what we've got (and it looks like they have something about them) there are welcome here from my view !
6

spanishblue added 13:40 - Jan 20
Could be that Edwards and Downes are off maybe Jackson as well hope the first 2 stay though
0

runaround added 13:42 - Jan 20
Excellent news! With the delay I was concerned this was going to fall through but thankfully not
Welcome to ITFC Josh
7

planetblue_2011 added 13:43 - Jan 20
Well done town 2 good signings which seem raring to go. Just hope this brings the attacking force we need. Both players should give the team & squad a lot of help.
Let's get going again & turn this season round COYB⚽️
8

Pessimist added 13:43 - Jan 20
I am delighted with both signings, to be honest. They have bags of quality, which is why they have been selected by England's under 20 management on occasions.

This could just get Paul Lambert out of jail and I genuinely hope, so because nothing would please me more than seeing all those fake blues eat some humble pie.
6

BlueBlood90 added 13:52 - Jan 20
Lets just give the ladsa chance and judge them at the end of the season. A lot of the comments make me laugh. I doubt very much that anyone on this forum watches Barnsley or Preston regularly enough to give an accurate review on whether they are good or bad players so lets just wait and see. Welcome aboard.
13

Europablue added 14:02 - Jan 20
We're actually in a pretty decent position in the league, all we need is a spark to get us going, maybe these two can provide that. I want the team to get promoted even if I'm tired of the manager, so I will support the team and give these new guys a chance. We get anywhere positive if we create/maintain a hostile environment.
5

ronnyd added 14:18 - Jan 20
Again we have posters hailing these signings as new messiahs. While i welcome them to our club i would point out that they were only fringe players for their middling Champ clubs and one is also quite injury prone. The overriding problem to me is Lambert and his tactics. While he insists on his possessive negative style i can't see any change in our performances or results. Hope i will be proved wrong though.
3

runningout added 14:28 - Jan 20
Blooming heck I'm old!! Players looking younger and younger.
0

Suffolkboy added 14:28 - Jan 20
Go to it , & go for it ,show the world how much you want to play and bring fresh skill and vision to everything you do on the pitch !
COYB
0

FramlinghamBlue added 14:36 - Jan 20
This is a very good signing. Dozzell seemed very off the pace in the last few games he has played. He made way too many errors with his passing. We need an attacking threat going forward that can also play a simple pass to a player in the same coloured shirt when necessary.
0

BettyBlue added 15:19 - Jan 20
What's the point when you have two of the worst full backs in the entire football league.
-3


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