Preston Agree Dalby Deal

Preston North End could be close to their fourth summer signing after they agreed terms with United States Under-20 international captain Greg Dalby.

The 21-year-old spent a few days on trial at Deepdale earlier this year and it was thought that PNE boss Paul Simpson was keen to sign him there and then. But the midfielder continued to take trials around Europe and has been linked with moves to Celtic, Werder Bremen and two unnamed Serie A sides.

Although the former University of Notre Dame player has agreed terms with the Lilywhites he is still awaiting international clearance for a work permit from the Home Office. As he hasn't had the required games at full international level it is hoped that he can be given a permit on the 'exceptional talent' ruling which saw Manchester United capture Brazilian youngster Anderson last month.

Dalby, a native of Newport Beach, California, got his footballing education at several San Diego clubs and attended Poway High School, near San Diego. It was during this time that he was chosen ahead of thousands of other candidates to be named the Gatorade National High School Player of the Year and given a spot on the US Under-18 team.

From Poway High, Dalby moved to the prestigious University of Notre Dame and he soon became captain and was named first team All-American in 2005 and 2006.

In 2005 Dalby captained the US Under-20 side in the FIFA World Youth Championships.

It is hoped that the rookie midfielder will be at Springfields early next week to begin the next exciting chapter in his career.

Report from pne.com

Sounds like a great prospect he has had some big clubs chasing him i just dont know if we can get this work permit sorted even though he meets all the criteria for the exceptional talent rule.
Even though Utd got Anderson i feel the big clubs always get favoured with the red tape decisions.

Look at Burnley last season tried to get Luton Shelton from Helsinborg got turned down then in the January Shelton gets accepted for Sheff Utd.

He would be a great signing tho to join in with the others.

Billy Jones from Crewe
Karl Hawley from Carlisle
Kevin Nicholls from Leeds

Preston North End have been told that Greg Dalby will not be issued with a work permit.

The news came over the weekend and came as a huge disappointment to Paul Simpson as he was keen and confident of snapping up the US Under-20 skipper.

But the midfielder failed to meet all the required criteria to get the work permit and Greg has now departed Deepdale meaning that Simpson's search for a midfielder continues.

"It always is a risk, we understood that when we brought him in but we were lead to believe that all the criteria had been met," Simpson told pne.com.

"The way it works with these Home Office applications is that you have a list of things that need to be followed and we were told that we had all the boxes ticked and that it would be dead straight-forward.

"Unfortunately some earnings that he had before coming over here, we were told that it would go towards the application and would help, bunt unfortunately they don't.

"We've lost out on it and it is disappointing for ourselves and for Greg but we have got to move on, it's part and parcel of football and the disappointment has got to go quickly and we have got to look to bring somebody else in now."

Simpson must now move on to his next target, a midfielder is still close to the top of his list, especially with the news that Paul McKenna could be out of action until October. The North End boss currently has three fit central-midfielders to choose from, new signing Kevin Nicholls and transfer-listed duo Jason Jarrett and Adam Nowland, but Simmo is also keen to strengthen other key areas.

"We have to move onto the next one, I've said all along that I'm looking to bring a midfielder and a striker in and at the moment my thoughts are focused on bringing the target-man in and we will see how we go with that one and then we will then start looking at the midfielder as well," added the North End boss.

pne.com

Well as is guessed we didnt get the permit GUTTED.

What gets on my tits is how any tom dick n harry can just walk into the country and yet a professional who is over hear to make a decent living a pump some decent money into the tax system is denied.

fckin home office couldnt run a tap.