AIDOMO Emakhu has signed a new long-term contract at Millwall.
The 20-year-old forward has impressed this season even though he’s largely been limited to contributing off the bench.
With a goal and an assist from his 15 league appearances this season, the Irishman has shown enough potential for the Lions to tie him down to a new deal.
Emakhu signed from Shamrock Rovers during last year’s winter window and made his debut in February’s 1-1 draw with Burnley.
That would be his sole appearance during the second half of the 2023/24 season but he started this campaign very strongly.
After coming off the bench to brilliantly assist Romain Esse’s winner against Middlesborough on the opening day of the season, he scored a skilful consolation goal against Norwich City three weeks later, his first for the club.
With minutes for the first-team limited in recent games, Emakhu played for Millwall under-21s earlier this week as they beat Cardiff City 5-1 with the striker hitting a hat-trick.
Speaking in his virtual pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s game at Stoke City, Millwall head coach Joe Edwards said: “I’m really pleased, it’s great news. Obviously I want to be here for a long time and bring in young players into the team. That’s something I would love to be a big part of what we do.
“Aidomo is a player I saw earlier on in the season before coming to Millwall and I liked the look of him. He’s got that excitement factor that he can bring to a team. For any player coming into the Championship, particularly from where he’s from, he’s made a big jump. He’s got a lot to work on that we’re helping him with every day.
“Like we spoke about with Romain, it’s not an easy period at the moment. But when we can get them on the pitch [we will] and in games where he has come on, like Cardiff, he showed some glimpses of being a threat for us. We’re continuing to do a lot of work with him.
“He played in the under-21 game and scored a hat-trick at the start of this week so he’s had a good week in general and hopefully we can keep seeing him on the pitch as often as possible whilst we’re developing him but longer term it’s great news to have him committing to the club.
“Since the day that I came here, he’s been a real pleasure to work with. He works hard every day, really keen to listen. He’s already feeling the ups and downs of it, where by he’s started a game for us and he’s then had games when he doesn’t get on. I asked him to go and play in the under-21 game because I think for those boys, when they do get their opportunity on the pitch for the first team, you have to give them the best chance to show the best of themselves. And it’s difficult to keep sharpness and fitness where you’re not getting loads of minutes.
“When you ask a player to go and play in the under-21s and they go and get a hat-trick, it’s pretty much all you can do. A sign of his mentality from what I’ve seen so far.”