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

Preston North End fans are in for a potentially worrying final two weeks of the transfer window as links to Emil Riis' potential departure have emerged.

The Danish striker, who netted 21 times for the Lilywhites in all competitions last season, has been the subject of an enquiry from North End's divisional rivals Middlesbrough, as first revealed by Football League World.

It was later reported by Alan Nixon that Boro are plotting a major bid for the 24-year-old, with Chris Wilder looking to move on from Jorgen Strand Larsen after Middlesbrough had high seven-figure offers turned down for the Norwegian.

 

 

 

 

Attentions have now turned to Riis, who has been on the bench for PNE's last two league matches as manager Ryan Lowe opted to use Troy Parrott as a lone striker instead.

Despite his failure to score so far in five appearances in all competitions this season, Riis is an integral part to North End, and FLW's PNE fan pundit Sam Weeden believes that the hierarchy at Deepdale must stand their ground as to whatever money Boro throw at them for his services.

"I think Emil Riis has to be a 'don't sell at all costs' stance, not so much for the transfer fee but if you had to put a price-tag on him, if you got around £9.5 million for Jordan Hugill who had 18 months left on his contract and hadn't hit 20 goals, for Emil Riis you're looking at at least £12 million-£15 million, with a substantial percentage of that up-front to help us this season." Sam explained.

"But for me I just don't want to sell him - it's the first time we've had a 20 goal a season striker (at Championship level) since Richard Cresswell in 2004-05, he offers us something different, a very direct runner.

"And I don't trust the club to re-invest the money - we've seen them fail to replace Hugill, for a long time they failed to replace Callum Robinson so I really hope they keep hold of him."

The Verdict

There wouldn't be many clubs in the EFL where there would be a big debate into the pros and cons of selling a 21-goal striker - 17 of those which came in last season's Championship - but there's definitely a split opinion amongst PNE fans.

Riis isn't the finished article by any stretch of the imagination, and there's things he needs to work on in his game, but the fact that Chris Wilder is keen on him speaks volumes.

He is a good judge of a striker more often than not, and to the pro-Riis camp on the terraces at Deepdale, Boro's interest will be worrying with little time left in the window.

The supposed £8 million price-tag that has been reported though is surely far too low for a player who scored so many goals in the second tier last season, but we will just have to see what happens.