'Affordable': Reported Sunderland transfer target wanted by Championship rivals with offer being prepared

Preston boss Ryan Lowe wants the club to sign Liam Milar on a permanent deal but is unsure if an agreement will be reached with FC Basel.

Millar joined Preston on loan last summer and has scored five goals in 32 Championship appearances this season. Sunderland have also been credited with interest in the 24-year-old winger, who has one year left on his contract in Switzerland.

When asked whether Preston could re-sign Millar permanently this summer, Lowe replied: “Listen, Liam - I won’t go into too much detail on what we speak about - but he loves it here. He has found a home here, his family are all here and his mum and dad are not far from here. He loves it, but again he is not our player - there is a football club that own him, paid money for him and value him. Depending on what those values are; it’s tough isn’t it, because if you look at the players we’ve had here before - we’ve given game time to them, coached them, they’ve performed and then gone for big bucks.

“We pay their wages, but get nothing out of it - which is fine. Liam has had a fantastic season for us, which we knew he would. He’s been missed of late, because he’s a fantastic player. But, all we can do is potentially put our best offer on the table. He knows that we’d love to keep him and I think Basel know we’d like to keep him. It’s easy for us to say we want to keep him, but I think Liam’s type of contract suits into the way we work.

“So, he is affordable, 100 per cent - but it’s whether he’s affordable to buy. It is whether Peter can thrash a deal out with Basel, and his agent, over it. I am sure there will be other clubs interested in him, but we have a value and if the value is way above then ultimately, you can’t do anything about it. But, Liam has loved his time here, wants to stay here - has said he’d love to stay - but it’s whether we can thrash a deal out with his parent club.”