'Been honest' - Preston North End stance on ex-Charlton Athletic man not in Ryan Lowe's plans

Preston North End are looking to find Patrick Bauer a new club, with the defender having one year left on his contract still.

The expectation from the outside was that the German would become a free agent this summer, but that has not transpired. Thought to be out of contract in 2024, Bauer actually triggered an extra year in his deal last summer - which came to light after Preston’s retained list was published last month.

The 31-year-old has fallen down the pecking order over the last couple of seasons and manager Ryan Lowe has been open about that. Bauer played two games for PNE last season and eight the campaign before. North End director Peter Ridsdale says everyone at the club knew the score with Bauer and that it’s now a case of trying to find him a move.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” said Ridsdale. “We knew what the terms were about extending when we signed him. The thing that frustrates me a bit - but I have to be big enough about and live with - is that I’ve got people saying ‘You’ve got all these players to go with a year on their contracts, what are you doing about it?’ Of course, you take a view on what to do about it based on how they performed last year.

“If we then extend and in a year’s time they haven’t had a good season, everybody thinks we’re mad. If they’ve had a really good season and you didn’t extend, they would think we are mad for not extending it. And, at any moment in time, you can get a player who’s got options in there which trigger and they end up being with you when the current manager says: ‘He’s not for me anymore’. That is where we are with Patrick and Ryan (Lowe) was there when he signed it.

“I think he was a pretty regular player at the time. We knowingly signed a deal which had an option under certain circumstances, which triggered. And that wasn’t up to us to trigger, it automatically triggered and we knew that was going to happen a year ago. Patrick has been a consummate professional. He has been outstanding, training every day.

“He’s been fantastic, but we’ve been honest and said that the current manager doesn’t see him as part of our squad - and therefore we will do our best to find him a home for the upcoming season. In my experience, having one player who might have a contract longer than the current manager wants them to have is almost unique. You normally have five or six, so in this business you’ve almost got to be clairvoyant and guess how well people are going to do.”