Carter has impressed Phil Brown and is set to be offered a new contract by the club
PNE Online Community Blog understands that Preston are set to offer Darren Carter a new contract when his current deal expires in the summer.
The 27-year-old has impressed Phil Brown in recent months and he is believed to be in his plans for next season.
After his Preston career looked all but over back in August, when he was transfer listed by the club after being cast aside by Darren Ferguson, Carter has managed to turn things around, finding a new lease of life under Phil Brown, and now looks to have earned himself a new deal.
When Phil took over back in January, Carter was recalled from his loan spell at Millwall and went straight into the starting eleven for the FA Cup-tie against Nottingham Forest where he managed to score in what was his first game for North End for nine months.
Since the Forest game Darren hasn’t looked back – going from strength to strength in the middle of the Preston midfield. Here is what Brown had to say when he spoke with the Lancashire Evening Post on Monday night:
“There were marked differences in our styles of play.
“Under Darren it was very open and expansive, then David stepped into the breach and did his best in the circumstances.
“Since I came in, the team was more organised, more difficult to play against, maybe less exciting in terms of the football played.
“When a new manager comes in, you get some players who step up to the plate and some who step down.
“Darren Carter was one of those players who certainly stepped up to the plate.
“Another player to do that was Barry Nicholson.”
“We had statistics from games last season that showed he was covering a huge amount of ground.”
It sounds very much like Phil Brown wants to hold on to Darren in the summer and that he will be pressing the Preston board to offer him a new deal.
The major stumbling block however will be Carter’s reported £10,000 per week wages, which will certainly have to be reduced if the club is to retain his services. Whether Darren will be willing to take a cut in wages, as well as dropping down to League One, is a different matter and only time will tell.
If Darren does stay then great. I must admit that I had lost my faith in Carter last season, however, in the five months under Phil Brown he has shown me why we paid close to £1.2 million pounds for him back in 2007. He has shown real hunger and desire and has, in my eyes, earned himself a new deal with the club.
On top of that, if Darren does happen to agree to a new deal on reduced wages then that shows that he is committed to the club and wants to play at Deepdale to help us get back to the Championship next season; he could very easily walk away now and find himself a Championship outfit – newly promoted Brighton are one of many clubs being linked with the Solihull born midfielder.
It would be nice to think that Darren wants to play for our historic club and help us in our promotion push next season; his experience would be invaluable and I feel that his quality would shine through in League One. Let’s wait and see what the future brings.
Thank you for reading. Would you like the club to offer Darren Carter a new deal in the summer?
2 Comments
I am a great fan of Carter and was pleased to see him back in the team on his return from his loan spell at Millwall. I hope he signs.
Thanks for the comment Samaki. Like you say, since Phil Brown was brought in to the club in January, Darren has been like a new signing. He has started to show some of the quality which we paid nearly £1.2 million for back in 2007.
We’ll have to wait and see on this one but let’s hope that Darren does sign a new deal and continues to excel next season in League One.