The 19-year-old right-back has agreed a three-year deal and will provide cover for Graham Alexander.

Mears completed his time with City's academy this summer and linked up with Preston for pre-season training on Wednesday.

He appeared once for City's first team last season, coming on as a substitute in the 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest in March.

New Deepdale boss Brown is trying to put together a smaller squad, with young players to act as cover.

"The French do it to perfection. In France you can only sign 20 players in each squad," Brown told the club's website.

"This was a tremendous rule by the French Football Federation and they then had to identify the players they really wanted.

"Because in that scenario if I wanted to sign someone and had 20 players - over the age of 21 - then I would have to get rid of one.

"This means the least valuable player in the squad would be freed if you couldn't sell them.

"I think we have to try and operate that way here at Preston, without it being mandatory.

"Our objective will be to only have 20 players in the squad who are over 21 and any supplementary players to last the season forces us to have a good youth policy.

"That's what Gerald Houllier did when he became the technical director in France when they failed to qualify in 1990 and 1994, and then they won it in 1998.

"The reason for that was the likes of (David) Trezuguet and (Thierry) Henry came through at Monaco."