STRIKER Bjarki Gunnlaugsson scored his first league goal for Preston North End last weekend -- but he could soon have an even bigger reason to smile!

For the promotion-bound club are on the verge of offering Bjarki a permanent deal at Deepdale, after his silky skills impressed David Moyes.

As usual, there was no official comment from North End on the suggestion that Bjarki could be signing on for a longer spell, probably for three years.

But although it has taken Bjarki most of the season to score his first league goal -- due to the fact he has played sub for much of the season -- he has performed a key role up front in recent weeks as Jon Macken and Steve Basham went off the boil.

Along with Bjarki's stunner, Macken scored his 25th league goal to help North End to their victory against Bristol Rovers, which puts them within sniffing distance of promotion.

Bjarki said: "It has been a long time coming and I have been desperate to score a goal for Preston." The Icelandic international also admitted he has come in for some stick for looking like his identical brother Arnar, who was hammered by the FA for his part in the Leicester Worthington Cup ticket saga.

Bjarki added: "I've been asked if the ticket business runs in the family. It's just banter, but at least they can start talking about my first league goal instead."

And while Bjarki, who is treated as a hero back home in Iceland thanks to his heroics on the field for Reykjavik -- the team he played for before he moved here, has every reason to celebrate, the future could be looking a lot bleaker for another of North End's foreign imports.

Farid Diaf, PNE's French midfielder, whose season has been wrecked by injury after injury after injury, looks unlikely to have his contract extended.

After arriving on a three month contract in July, PNE have repeatedly extended his deal in the hope that they will see some of the flair the French rave about.

Unfortunately, North End seem to have given up hope.