JOE EDWARDS is confident Nino Adom-Malaki will get the full EFL treatment after he was loaned to Sutton United until the end of the season.
The 19-year-old has been on the fringes of Millwall’s first team squad all season but has yet to make his debut.
The full-back will be hoping to make an impact at League Two Sutton, who are now managed by Millwall legend Steve Morison and are in the middle of a relegation battle.
Speaking to NewsAtDen, Edwards said of the loan: “Since I’ve come in Nino’s trained with us a fair amount so I’ve seen him a lot. You get to that point when you’re a young player and, particularly around the Christmas period, you end up with the first-team in a lot of training sessions where there’s small groups.
“So as much as you gain a lot from being around the first-team, you can lose out on playing football matches at a senior level.
“League Two is a tough level to play at and he definitely needs it as he’s more of the modern kind of full-back and wing-back that loves to attack and is very comfortable on the ball.
“But certainly there will be some elements of the game at that level where the defensive and physical nature of it will be a step up for him and a real good development.”
Adom-Malaki is one of handful of youngsters, including Sha’mar Lawson, Kamarl Grant and George Walker, who has been on the Lions bench in recent weeks due to injuries effecting the first-team squad.
Edwards said the club will have to be “reactive” on deciding if the remaining trio also get any loan deals soon.
He added: “To be honest we’re going to have to be a bit reactive on seeing how what kind of state we stay in as a squad. Because if you had asked me if they would have been on the bench, I wouldn’t have known. But then we get that many injuries.
“We’re obviously trying to bring in players ourselves in the window but that remains to be seen how successful we’re going to be.
“But those boys are in the same position as Nino where they all have potential but they’re not players that are ready to be regularly coming on for us and having a big impact in games. I need players to come off the bench and have a big impact and those boys are not ready for that yet, purely because of the lack of senior football they’ve had.
“So it will be the step that those boys need and will get at some point, it’s just whether it’s now or in the summer.”