REPORT: Preston North End trigger Alfie Devine purchase option

Alfie had a pretty darned good loan at Preston this past season. He was a regular starter in the Championship, and scored 8G+6A in over 3000 minutes and 48 appearances. Pretty, pretty good. But it does seem as though his long-term future lies away from Tottenham Hotspur.

Today, the Lancashire Post is reporting that Preston have formally triggered a purchase option that was in Devine’s loan contract from last season, and that the clubs are (again) entering negotiations for a permanent transfer. The report also says that Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were relegated from the Premier League this season, and Scottish Premier League club Celtic are also interested in taking Devine off of Spurs’ hands this summer, suggesting he’s got a market and might not end up at Preston when all is said and done. The suggested fee has also increased — previously we said it was £4.5m, now it appears to have jumped to “north of £5m” which would double Preston’s transfer record. Not a huge change, but a significant one for Championship teams, certainly, and the fact that Preston are intending to trigger the option means that they think Devine will be a significant player for them now and in the future.

Who knows what the negotiations will entail — perhaps Preston want to spread the amortization of Devine’s fee out, and we can slip a sell-on or buy-back clause into his deal. Or maybe Devine suddenly having a market in the English second division has changed the calculus for everyone involved.

For fans who like seeing Tottenham Hotspur youngsters and academy graduates eventually move to the Spurs firs team, this might be a little disappointing, but not every promising young player will break into the first team, and getting a decent fee for Devine is still a win for the academy.

Sounds like Devine has a say on where his future lies and he is going to assess his options and take his time doing so. Unless something weird happens I think this might drag out a while, but who knows.

If he does end up at Preston, let’s hope they keep the “SPUD BROS” sponsor, because I find that extremely funny.