Preston North End boss Frankie McAvoy expecting activity on transfer deadline day

The PNE head coach is hopeful of adding to his squad prior to 11pm tomorrow evening, with questions being asked but the club being made to wait.

North End are expecting to bring one or two in before the deadline but it will depend on other clubs and they are prepared to act quickly, should something become available late on.

Preston are no strangers to late deals, bringing in three on deadline day in January, with Anthony Gordon coming in after the deadline though they had already submitted the relevant paperwork.

McAvoy would like to get their transfers done as soon as possible but knows that as time moves on, deals become more likely to be last-minute. He told the Lancashire Post: “We’ll see what happens in the window – if we manage to add one or two players we will be delighted.

“But we will have to wait and see. We’re working, we’re speaking to people and we’re just waiting to see if we can get deals done.

“Generally at this time it gets done at the last minute, we’d be delighted if it happens earlier but at the end of the day we’re not in control of that.

“For me, everybody is desperate to add someone who can get 20 goals a season for you.

“Emil Riis has played a few games and he’s scored five now, he’s starting to rack the goals up.

“He’s playing with a bit of confidence now.”

Riis scored just before half time to put PNE in the lead at Deepdale on Saturday, as they went on to beat Swansea 3-1.

Joel Piroe put the Swans in front but Sepp van den Berg equalised just two minutes later, with Ben Whiteman adding a second-half free-kick to extend their advantage.

Riis has now scored five goals in seven games this season, compared to three in 39 last time around.

North End are still looking to add another striker to their ranks.

They still have Connor Wickham on trial, although he was not involved in the matchday squad this weekend.

McAvoy gave him the time off, as he did with skipper Alan Browne.

He said: “Connor Wickham is still here but obviously there is a break coming up so he can go back and spend time with his family.

“Alan Browne wasn’t involved because of the 10 days of isolation he had been in.

“I just felt that the guys that played last week had done so well and it gave Alan a little rest anyway.

“I was confident with what I had that we would get a positive result and thankfully that’s what happened.”