Simpson's Nugent concern

Preston boss Paul Simpson has again spoken of his concerns that David Nugent may leave the club as he believes his England call-up could price the player out of their range.

Nugent still has one year to run on his current deal, but has yet to commit to the new four-year, £12,000-a-week deal that was tabled last summer.

The 21-year-old has been hugely impressive in the Championship this term and, while Preston are contenders for promotion, Simpson feels that it will be difficult to hold onto the player now he is in the international fold.

"We've made it clear to Nuge we want him to stay, but he hasn't signed the contract we discussed last summer as it wasn't quite what he was looking for," he told the Daily Star.

"We are desperate to keep him and the club has gone to lengths it has never gone to before in an effort to achieve that, but now that he is in the England squad and being linked with multi-million pound moves to the Premiership, he is maybe priced out of our range.

"David has a year left on his contract, though, and we are still working hard to keep him."

Simpson still has some grounds for optimism, however, as promotion to the Premiership would help convince Nugent to stay.

And he knows that, if he does leave at the end of his contract, Preston will be entitled to compensation under the Bosman Ruling due to the player's age.

"We know that he is happy here and we will sit down in the summer, assess where we are as a club and how he sees his future then take it from there.

"We are fortunate in that he is still under 24, so we don't face the risk of losing him for nothing if he is still here when his contract runs out.

"But we also know that, as a club, we won't end up with as much money for David as he is worth if he runs down his contract. It's something we will look at at the end of the season once David decides what is the right thing for him."