Preston North End Football Club News

• Nickname:lilywhites
• Founded:1881
• Manager:Graham Westley

• Ground:Deepdale
• Capacity:22,226

Deepdale move for Mellor

30 Aug 2006 - 14:40:28

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Preston North End have sealed a deal to bring Liverpool striker Neil Mellor to Deepdale.

The 23-year-old moves to the Championship side for an undisclosed fee after inking a three-year deal with the option of a further 12 months.

Mellor came through the youth team ranks at Anfield before scoring six goals in 22 appearances for the Reds' first team.

He spent part of the 2003-04 season on loan with West Ham, scoring twice in 21 games for the club but, in an injury-ravaged 2005-06 campaign, was restricted to only one goal in five appearances during a loan period with Wigan Athletic.

A delighted Preston boss Paul Simpson told the club's official website: "He's a goalscorer and hopefully that will continue to be the case for us.

"He's a player who has got that instinct, he gets into goalscoring positions and he's not afraid to have a strike at goal.

"We all accept that he's had his injury problems but we're happy that he's through those and it's just a case now of building up his fitness levels so he can start to be introduced gradually over the next coming weeks."