All entirely plausible...
...right up until the part where he played on Saturday.
A player with no symptoms in a knee doesn't play before and after a medical at Preston, if that medical reveals a problem.
A player who complains of symptoms in a knee gets investigated by his home club, then rested / treated by his home club if he's a saleable asset.
A player who's "devastated not to be going to Preston" doesn't play on a surgical knee and risk making it worse and threatening said move.
Smacks of Preston not offering a good enough deal then attempting to save face to me.
Whilst I agree with you regards to him playing, maybe he wanted to show Preston that he is still fit to play. That said, if it shows on the medical that he has a knee problem, Preston are right imo to withdraw from the deal. It’s a lot of money to pay for a player that could miss the next year through injury. What a lot of fans haven’t grasped yet is that your most saleable asset is no longer that until the injury problem is rectified and by the time that is done he may be close to the end of his contract. I hope things work out for the lad.
I know several will still think Ledson has turned Preston down and the PNE fans are venting their frustration but that’s not the case. In my case, it was just letting you know what we have found out from our end. Who knows, it may not be true but I think most people will soon realise that these posts have been made for your own interests.
Personally I don’t know how good Ledson is but our Manager made him our no1 target, so that’s good enough for me, but I’m in the camp of what you’ve never had, you’ll never miss.
Good luck