NEIL Harris says he expects a busy summer transfer market for Millwall as he looks at revamping his squad.
Focus has fully turned to restructuring the squad after Championship safety was secured last weekend with the 0-0 draw against Stoke followed by Rotherham’s 2-1 defeat at West Brom.
Harris gave a strong response to a question about summer recruitment, stressing he wanted “better pros” and “players with more hunger”.
“I think it’s clear to see we need an injection of personnel,” Harris told NewsAtDen before the 2-1 defeat to Bristol City this week. “What we did coming out of League One and recruiting to go into the Championship was we took a gamble on a lot of players from League One.
“And we had a great season, but we had a great season once we got to 44 points. The shackles came off and we played and we developed.
“Nearly every one of my players played to the full extent of their ability last year. Coupled with momentum we were a dangerous team.
“This year a lot of players haven’t played to their full potential. It’s been a difficult period and we have to make sure that next season everybody is playing to the best of their ability.
“The league has gone to another level, it’s so much better this year compared to last year. If we want to live with the expectation of some of our fans saying that we have to progress as a club and start competing, then we have to invest. That’s the way at it is at this level.
“I’m not talking about going and spending £10million on a player, because that’s not possible for us, but you have to bring the personnel in and you have to pay to get them in at this level.
“Credit to Sheffield United and Norwich, but they get 30,000 [attendance] every week. They can pay players to come in and have done a great job at doing it. We have to make sure that we improve our squad.
“It will be busy this summer. We have to recruit players that are going to make us better. We have to try to recruit players that can hopefully compete in the Championship.
“It’s a tough league. You look at Stoke last weekend, only four or five players above us, but how good was their team? How good were their players?
“And it’s not just about players, it’s about characters. I love my group of players but I need better pros. I need players with more hunger.
“That will start immediately.”
Image: Millwall FC