Preston North End playmaker Mads Frøkjær-Jensen has praised Emil Riis following Friday’s 3-0 thumping of Coventry City.
Emil Riis has been a season-changing addition to the PNE side since making his return from injury.
The Dane was out of action for more than a year with a major knee injury and some wondered how he would return.
Riis has been exceptional of late, scoring in each of his last four games.
Cardiff City, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers all got a taste of Riis’s goalscoring prowess and it was Coventry City’s turn on Friday night.
Riis found PNE’s opener inside a minute before then setting up Will Keane to make it 2-0 inside 20 minutes.
Riis also set up PNE’s third, crossing for Coventry defender Bobby Thomas to turn the ball into his own net, securing a convincing North End victory.
Mads Frøkjær-Jensen hails Emil Riis
Riis is thriving right now and he has a fellow Dane behind him in Mads Frøkjær-Jensen.
PNE’s number 10 has struck up a quick rapport with his fellow countryman, completely changing North End’s attack.
Frøkjær-Jensen has now told iFollow that he didn’t really know what to expect from Riis.
North End lured Riis away from Randers in 2020, three years before bringing Frøkjær-Jensen in from Odense.
Frøkjær-Jensen admitted to having not seen much of Riis since his time in Denmark, but believes that he has really added to his game at PNE.
Frøkjær-Jensen has been impressed with Riis for his hold-up play since coming back into the team and believes that he has been ‘class’ in the North End attack – even earlier than expected.
“To be fair, I haven’t seen much of Emil since he left the Danish league, so I didn’t know really what to expect when he came back,” said Frøkjær-Jensen. “I knew what kind of player he was in Denmark but he seems to have built a lot of his game, especially with the back to the goal. The last few games, he’s been class at holding the ball up, making small cuts inside and outside and laying the ball off.”
“He’s been class, I think it’s earlier than he expected himself, and the team, but the situation has been… we needed him, he’s stepped up and he’s been class,” he added.
Riis and Frøkjær-Jensen are playing so well right now that many are hoping to see PNE make more signings from Denmark.
North End paid around £2.4million to bring the pair to Deepdale but both would be worth much more now.
That kind of value surely makes the Danish market more and more appealing to PNE, so don’t be surprised to see another Dane arrive this summer.