This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Emil Riis is really hitting his straps in the Championship after taking a season to settle into life at Preston North End.

The October 2020 signing from Randers arrived at Deepdale with a lot to live up to as Alex Neil's men looked to be a couple of shrewd signings away from a play-off campaign.

That did not materialise and in came Frankie McAvoy at the back end of 2020/21. After notching just three times in 39 Lilywhites outings in his debut season the Dane has already bagged 12 in all competitions this term. Preston were very smart to tie him down on a deal until the summer of 2025 earlier this season and could go on to reap the rewards of that ambition in years to come.

Still only 23, Riis is bound to be discussed as a potential target for clubs of higher standing than North End in the coming transfer windows. When that time does arrive it will be interesting to see how Preston perform in negotiations.

We gathered the thoughts of a selection of FLW writers on whether Emil Riis is ready for a step up and how much he is worth in the transfer market...

Toby Wilding

This is certainly an interesting one to consider in light of Riis' recent form.

While he has been excellent for Preston so far this season, it is worth remembering that Riis endured a difficult debut campaign at Deepdale last season, with just two goals in 38 league appearances for the club.

As a result, you feel the Dane may need to show that he can produce the sort of form he is in now, on a more consistent and regular basis before he is considered ready to make the step up.

Even so, the goals Riis is scoring for Preston now make him absolutely crucial to them, and having only extended his contract until the summer of 2025 less than a month ago, they are in a very strong position to negotiate any offers that come in for him.

With that in mind, it could be argued that the 23-year-old is worth somewhere in the region of £5-10 million to North End at this moment in time.

Ned Holmes

 

 

I can certainly see Emil Riis leaving Preston North End in the summer and potentially even in January.

It's too early to talk of Premier League football but a promotion challenging Championship club would make sense as a next step.

The issue of how much he's worth is all going to depend on who you ask. There's a fair bit of time left on his deal and if he continues at his current rate, Preston are going to likely want £10 million at least given he's such a vital player for them.

Will another Championship club pay that? For me, it all depends if he can keep his current form up.

If he can do it across the whole season then I think we could see a fairly sizeable bid made for him in the summer.

Adam Jones

Those getting carried away with his performances need to look back to last season, because there he needs to have at least one solid season of English football under his belt before he has the right to move on.

Fair play to the Danish forward, because he has bounced back well this season and looks a completely different player, but consistency will be key and this is something he is currently showing with eight goals in 19 appearances.

Not only is he taking the chances he's expected to take, but he also unleashed a rocket against Luton Town last month, showing he has the necessary attributes in his repertoire to go on and excel at a higher level, especially after shining in a reasonably poor Preston side so far this season.

Taking himself away from the bubble of social media has seemed to do him the world of good - and this shows he needs to be managed carefully if he does make the move up - something he will be entitled to do at the end of the 2021/22 campaign if he remains in the same vein of form.

In terms of how much he's worth, he's only 23 and his contract doesn't expire until 2025, so he would certainly be worth somewhere close to £15-20 million if he scores 20+ goals in total this term.

At this stage though with much of the 2021/22 campaign still to go? Perhaps £10m if you look at it from an outsider's perspective - but he's priceless for Preston at the moment.