French midfielder Eric Skora has today signed a one month loan deal for the Saddlers and is, therefore available for the Gillingham game.

The Metz born attacking midfielder is 5 foot 10 and 11 and a half stone, so will add some welcome physical presence to the Saddlers’ midfield, given the size of Osborn and Taylor. He is a former French under 21 International and was signed for Preston from Nancy by David Moyes. His career at Deepdale has not taken off, however, and he has spent some time on loan at Kilmarnock. They were offered the chance of signing him on a free, but that fell through.

Although he is supposedly two footed, the Preston sites all class him as a central midfielder and our official site, which has finally caught up with the news, says he can play central or wide right, so it is difficult to see quite where he will fit in with Merson’s plans at the moment, but we shall doubtless find out tomorrow.