Preston North End Football Club News

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

• Ground:Deepdale
• Capacity:22,226

Simpson targets Nugent stay

12 Aug 2006 - 10:49:46

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Preston North End boss Paul Simpson is hopeful of keeping David Nugent at the club, despite a number of Premiership clubs reported to be tracking the striker.

Nugent, 21, netted a superb double in the 3-1 win at Wolves to take his tally to 20 goals in 53 league games for the Lilywhites since his arrival from Bury in January 2005.

That form has alerted the likes of Everton and Portsmouth to his talents, but Simpson is hopefully that Nugent will stay put.

He said: "I am very confident that we can keep him, as the chairman has told me we don't need to sell after selling Tyrone Mears and Claude Davis over the summer.

"I want to keep him here and what we have to do is make sure that we keep his head right and keep him focused on where we want to go.

"He is an easy going lad and I think he realises what we are trying to do is right for him.

"Unfortunately, he has other people telling him different things, so we have to keep his head together and may have to batten down the hatches."