diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-plz.yml b/.github/workflows/release-plz.yml
index b4986952..3bd5916e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-plz.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-plz.yml
@@ -26,8 +26,11 @@ jobs:
           # List all opened PRs which head branch starts with "release-plz-"
           release_pr=$(gh pr list --state='open' --json number,headRefName --jq '.[] | select(.headRefName | startswith("release-plz-")) | .number')
           # Close the release PR if there is one
-          if [[ -n "release_pr" ]]; then
+          if [[ -n "$release_pr" ]]; then
+            echo "Closing old release PR $release_pr"
             gh pr close $release_pr
+          else
+            echo "No open release PR"
           fi
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLZ_PAT }}