Wrexham have agreed a £3million deal to sign Preston captain Ben Whiteman, talkSPORT understands.
The midfielder has permission to undergo a medical ahead of his switch to the Welsh club.
Whiteman will bring an end to his five-and-a-half year spell at Deepdale in a move which represents a coup for Wrexham.
The 30-year-old has been captain of Preston for two years with Paul Heckingbottom’s side coming 14th in the Championship last season.
Bad blood
Safe to say that Whiteman won’t be wished well by Heckingbottom, who accused the player of ‘crossing the line’ in his bid to make the move.
“Ben told me, told Peter (Ridsdale, CEO) he’s played his last game for the club,” Heckingbottom said to BBC Radio Lancashire after a pre-season friendly against Stockport over the weekend.
“He’s trying to force a move, which is an issue for me, for the players.”
Heckingbottom added: “We’ve been in regular conversations in the last few days, and Ben knew there was a line I didn’t want him to cross. Unfortunately he has, and you can’t have that.
“My priority now is the players that are here and the players who want to play for us, and represent the club.
“Also Craig (Hemmings, owner) will have an issue with that, and Peter, because they pay the wages and things.
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“Listen, there’s a valuation on him. I just hope for Ben’s sake that Wrexham are willing to pay it, otherwise he’s put himself in a really sticky situation.”
Wrex appeal
But with an impending move to North Wales, Whiteman could be looking at Premier League football for the first time in his career.
Phil Parkinson’s men narrowly missed out on the play-offs last season as they came seventh in the table.
They finished two points behind sixth placed Hull City, who went on to earn the final promotion spot into the top flight with a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough at Wembley.
Wrexham’s promotion setback last term halted what has been a memorable run up the leagues which saw them go from National League to Championship in a remarkable three successive promotions.
They are of course backed by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who haven’t been afraid to flex their financial muscles since purchasing their stakes in the club in 2020.
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This summer has seen Wrexham make one notable signing so far with right-back Danny Imray arriving from Crystal Palace.
Meanwhile, several players have since left the club, including the likes of Paul Mullin, Jay Rodriguez and Andy Cannon.
Speaking on Wrexham’s transfer business, Parkinson told talkSPORT last month: “I think last year we put 14 players in.
“You bring the players in different stages of pre-season. Some deals take longer than others, people moving into the area and it took us a while to find our feet in the division and also, I had players adapting to that.
“But I feel we’ve got a better, stronger squad in this pre-season and it’s been great to work with the group so far, which we put together last season.
“However, I don’t feel we’re there yet in terms of the squad. We’re not resting on our laurels and thinking, we’re seventh and we’re just going to naturally progress above that.”
Parkinson continued: “You’ve got to be patient in your recruitment, but we still need to strengthen the squad for me to get a real feeling of confidence that we’re ready to go and take it a step further.
“But we’ve got some good players and we were close. It’s a very exciting season because it’s going to be as competitive as ever.”
