Preston can sign free agents outside of the transfer window.

Preston North End are ‘looking at’ players who are available on free transfers who could potentially be signed to boost Graham Alexander’s squad.

It’s been a tough first few weeks in the job for Alexander, who is yet to pick up a point in his first three games in charge of Preston but has inherited a squad struggling with injuries.

The manager has not yet had a fully fit squad available to him, with Ali McCann, Caleb Wiley, Harry Clarke, Lewis Gibson, Johnny Kenny, Liam Gibbs, and Brad Potts all missing games, while Callum Lang and Liam Lindsay have been forced off the field with knocks. Stanley Mills, meanwhile, missed the defeat at Wrexham through suspension.

With Alexander’s options depleted and points difficult to come by, the club has begun to consider the possibility of recruiting a free agent to bolster his numbers.

“Yeah, we've sort of spoke about that this week in particular actually,” the manager told The Post ahead of Saturday’s Championship fixture against West Brom.

“Looking at who's potentially available, if they can come in and help us, potentially."

EFL clubs are allowed to recruit and register unattached footballers outside the transfer window providing they were free agents before the previous window closed.

There must also be space to register the players within the strict 25-man squad limit. Preston do have space, with only 24 senior players registered.

It is also possible to deregister a player from the squad if they are injured and not likely to play again for a significant period of time, though permission must be attained from the EFL.

Alexander names the drawback to signing a free agent

Alexander does point out that if a player is still without a club at this point in the season, they are unlikely to be at a high enough level of fitness to make an immediate impact.

The club are doing their due diligence to find out which free agents are sufficiently fit before they make any moves.

He added: “The problem you've got there is you're probably bringing in players who are not at the level fitness wise to help us in the short term.

"Unless they've been training with a team consistently or with the PFA and stuff like that.

"That's the information we're trying to find out right now."

There are a lot of interesting names with high-level experience currently on the lookout for a club, such as Conor Coady, Ryan Kent and Jamal Lascelles.