Alvaro Fernandez's return to Preston North End has been discussed by Manchester United and the Championship club is eager to have the defender back, but nothing has been finalised as of yet.
The 20-year-old United prospect secured a starting position on Ryan Lowe's team's left side for the majority of the previous campaign, playing 42 times across all competitions and contributing six assists.
Last Saturday, during the FA Cup final at Wembley, as Erik ten Hag's team lost to rivals Manchester City 2-1, Preston director Peter Ridsdale spoke with United. Despite PNE's desire for Fernandez to come back, Ridsdale thinks they will have to wait and watch what transpires as well as what United decides to do with the defender over the course of the ensuing 12 months.
Fernandez moved to United from Real Madrid in September 2020, but has not yet appeared for United's first squad. Ten Hag's team intends to hold off on making any definitive choices regarding any players that excelled in the Championship last season until after the club's preseason tour of the US, including Fernandez.
However, Fernandez's return to Deepdale is something that Preston would welcome, and according to Ridsdale, no one associated with the club would object to it. He acknowledges that Preston has little control over the situation and that it is dependent on United, but he added that Fernandez might return to the Championship team to play additional minutes.
Speaking to to BBC Radio Lancashire, Ridsdale said: “I don’t think I could find anybody who could say they wouldn’t (want Fernandez to rejoin) - of course we would. He was a massive hit and the frustration sometimes, which is life, is that you go into the loan market and if it works, people criticise us because we have to go back."
“And if it doesn't work, they forget that actually it meant there was a short-term investment to have a look. Both in Tom [Cannon, Everton loanee] and Alvaro’s case I think everybody would say that they were massive hits for PNE last year and of course we’d love to see them back."
“That, to some extent, is out of our hands but I did speak to Manchester United about him on Saturday [at the FA Cup final] and you never say never. Let’s see what happens.”
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