Sheffield United have placed Preston North End striker Emil Riis Jakobsen on their list of transfer targets in the January transfer window, The Star understands. The 26-year-old Danish forward is out of contract at Deepdale in the summer and has scored seven goals this season.
The Blades are keen to add more attacking options to their squad for the second half of the season, and Riis put himself even further in the shop window with a close-range brace in North End’s 3-1 win over United’s city rivals Wednesday at the weekend – one taking advantage of a bad error from Owls goalkeeper James Beadle. United’s recruitment team have compiled a list of targets for when the window officially opens on Wednesday, with Riis’ name just one inked on it.
Jamie Hoyland, United’s chief scout, has previous links with Deepdale while Blades chief Chris Wilder has admired Riis in the past, launching a bid – said at the time to be worth around £7m – for the striker back in 2022 which was rebuffed by Preston. Paul Heckingbottom, Wilder’s predecessor who is now in post at Deepdale, would be keen to retain Riis’ services but his contract status makes them vulnerable.
Heckingbottom has been in a similar situation before, losing Sander Berge and Iliman Ndiaye during his time at United after they both entered the final year of their Bramall Lane contracts, and is relaxed about Riis’ future. “Listen, I don’t worry about players wanting to run their contracts down,” Heckingbottom our sister paper, the Lancashire Post, after beating another of his former clubs in Wednesday.
Exclusive: Wycombe Wanderers respond to Swansea City transfer offer
“It is totally their responsibility. If I think back to when I was a player, you are well within your rights. From my point of view I, we, the club, are relaxed about it. You can flip it the other way… players are trying to earn and show their value to me, as well as other clubs. At the same time we are obviously looking at replacements and other players. It’s always a catch-22 for players but I have got no problem with it at all.”
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks