Hugill makes Tranmere loan move

Fit-again Preston striker Jordan Hugill has made a loan move to Tranmere until the end of March.

The 22-year-old, a summer signing for North End from Port Vale, has not played for the Lilywhites since September after suffering a serious knee injury in training. But he played 90 minutes in a behind-closed-door friendly last week, scoring twice in the process, and will now take the latest step in his rehabilitation with old Vale boss Micky Adams at Prenton Park. Explaining the move, Preston boss Simon Grayson said: "We had a few calls over the last week or so about Jordan, and, to be fair, I wasn't going to let him out at all because I thought he could be in and around us and play a part, but that part may only be 10 or 15 minutes, if at all, because of the lads we have got that are already in front of him. "I thought for his own benefit it would be good for him to go get 28 days of football and five or six games at Tranmere and I just felt it was a perfect fit geographically and he knows Micky well and Micky knows him." Rovers have lost a big physical presence up front recently with the news that Cole Stockton requires surgery on a hernia, so Adams was particularly pleased to be reunited with Hugill. "He's a big, strong lad who never gives up," Adams told Tranmere's official website. "He's a goalscorer and, with Cole Stockton unavailable, is someone who will add to our attacking options."