Preston North End head towards the summer transfer window in a rare position of having a decent group of strikers already at the club.
We are so used to seeing PNE desperately need a striker or two come the end of a season.
Just look at recent transfer windows and you will see that North End usually have to sign at least one striker each summer.
Lukas Nmecha joined in 2018, David Nugent arrived in 2019 and then Emil Riis made the move from Randers in 2020, months before Ched Evans left Fleetwood Town for Deepdale.
Connor Wickham signed later in 2021 but left the club with Cameron Archer arriving in January 2022, with his exit then leaving North End chasing attackers again.
Troy Parrott came in on loan from Tottenham Hotspur before North End landed two strikers on loan in January 2023 with Liam Delap and Tom Cannon joining.
The run continued last summer as Will Keane joined from Wigan Athletic, Layton Stewart arrived from Liverpool and Milutin Osmajic completed a club-record move from Cadiz.
Ryan Lowe now has four strikers at his disposal in Riis, Keane, Osmajic and Stewart whilst a decision will soon be made on whether to extend Evans’ contract.
PNE striking options look strong but could change
That leaves PNE looking decent up top at the moment and fans have other positions ahead of striking additions in terms of summer priorities.
The situation could change later in the summer; Riis only has one year left on his contract and is bound to have suitors.
Evans leaving the club may tempt PNE into landing another experienced centre forward whilst Stewart may need a loan move in League One.
PNE would be wise to have strikers in mind just in case one is needed, but a striking pursuit isn’t priority number one heading into the summer.
North End have found something great in the Riis and Keane partnership, but will head into next season hoping for more from Osmajic.
Milutin Osmajic only needs to look at Emil Riis for PNE inspiration
Osmajic came in with big expectations after PNE struck a deal worth around £2.15million for him on deadline day.
The Montenegrin broke PNE’s transfer record and North End fans were expecting an instant impact.
That did somewhat arrive; Osmajic hit four goals and two assists in his first 13 games for North End looked like a threat in the final third.
The 24-year-old has found things a little more difficult since an injury against Middlesbrough in November and his momentum appears to have been completely halted.
Osmajic finally scored for the first time since November, bagging a header against Stoke City in March, and started a week later at Plymouth Argyle.
Osmajic suffered a cruel blow as he went off injured just moments into the game, again setting him back.
Lowe handed Osmajic another chance at Watford on Saturday but he never really got going, failing to register a single shot in 81 minutes on the pitch.
Osmajic looks to have lost some confidence in recent months and one man who has been through the exact same thing is fellow PNE striker Riis.
Cast your minds back to 2020 and Riis came in from Denmark as a rare foreign import at PNE and he immediately looked dangerous in the North End attack.
As the season wore on, Riis struggled to find the net and ended his first North End campaign with just two goals in 38 Championship games.
Riis looked completely shot of confidence but a first full pre-season in England and some time to settle allowed Riis to really kick on.
The Dane smashed 16 goals in the 2021-22 season and has come back from a major knee injury to find the net regularly.
Riis was a great example of a foreign import just taking a little bit of time to adjust to life in England and to the style of play in the Championship.
Osmajic finds himself in a similar boat and the way Riis turned it around after a difficult first season should be enough to convince fans not to write the Montenegrin off just yet.
Osmajic deserves some time to potentially mirror Riis and live up to the price tag, but fans will be expecting returns from him next season after a significant outlay.
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