Josh Brownhill was advised to sign for Barnsley by his new Preston North End club-mate Ben Pearson whose performances he hopes to at least equal while on loan at Oakwell.
The 20-year-old midfielder impressed on his debut for the Reds in their 3-0 success at Shrewsbury Town on Saturday after replacing Pearson who starred on loan at Barnsley before moving to Preston earlier this month and making Brownhill surplus to requirements at Deepdale.
The duo know each other from their time in Manchester United’s youth set-up.Brownhill told the Chronicle: “Ben is a very good player who has gone to Preston and done really well so far. I spoke to him about Barnsley when I heard they were interested in me. He said that it’s a great club and that helped me to decide to go there because there were a few other clubs interested in me. I know Ben put a good shift in when he was at Barnsley and hopefully I can do the same.”
While Pearson is mainly a defensively-minded player, Brownhill is more of an attacking midfielder but he was praised by head coach Lee Johnson who worked with him the previous two days on ‘staying in his cage’ as part of a central midfield two with Conor Hourihane.
Brownhill said: “I am used to playing in a three and being the one who gets forward but it’s good to learn a new role. Lee Johnson worked with me a lot on that on Thursday and Friday and that really helped. Conor was talking to me all the way through and he really helped.”
Brownhill’s Reds debut was more successful than his first game for Preston which was a 2-0 home defeat against Johnson’s Oldham Athletic in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 2013. Barnsley are currently in the last four of that competition and Josh admits that is a main factor in him wanting to extend his loan past the initial 28 days.
“I would like to extend my loan. It’s great to be back playing again and this loan will be massive for my development. The possibility of a Wembley final in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy is a massive incentive to come here and could be a main factor in me extending my loan. I got to Wembley last season with Preston (when they won the League One play-off final) but didn’t make the squad.”
Brownhill’s other aim is to move Barnsley up the division and he sees similarities between his new team-mates and the Preston side which got into the Championship. He said: “We are 11 points off the top six and there is still a belief that we can scrape into the play-off places. If not, this team definitely has the makings of a side that can challenge for promotion in the future.”
Brownhill has played 64 games for Preston, scoring six goals, but has been restricted to cup games and substitute appearances since his last league start on January 31 2015.
