LIONS boss Neil Harris has admitted the January transfer window has been “extremely difficult” – but what he expected as he tries to add to his squad.
Millwall have been linked with a host of players this month, the latest their former midfield star Tim Cahill, with whom they held talks.
Harris said Millwall had identified a number of targets ahead of the window opening, and those players were keen for a move to SE 16.
But changes in players’ circumstances threw a spanner in the works, and Harris admitted the club are having to be patient as they try to boost the squad before January 31.
“One day we’re close, next day we’re not,” Harris said. “We’re dictated to by other clubs. I speak to a lot of managers, a lot of agents and football people.
“We are in the same boat as many other clubs in the division that are waiting for clubs in the bottom half of the Premier League and top half of the Championship to start letting their players go. Teams are holding their players, and rightly so, I understand that.
“They want to get the right ones in and they don’t want to be left short. The Christmas period and new year is so unpredictable, results-wise – you only have to look at the Premier League results at the weekend, and the Championship is always up and down – that one minute players are available and the next they are back in the starting XI.
“It’s made it extremely difficult, but it’s exactly how I expected it to be. We identified players early, we had players lined up early with the thought process that what’s happened so far could happen.
“The targets we had identified were players that wanted to come, but then found themselves back in their own team or involved again in the match-day 18.
“That partly shows we’re looking at the right players, but also how unpredictable the market can be in January. We find ourselves having to be patient.
“Yes, of course there comes a time when I have to go from plan b to c, d and e. But we have to be careful how many plans we go to before we start bringing the wrong players in.”
Image: Millwall FC