MILLWALL manager Gary Rowett said the club were not “desperate” to do any more business on deadline day – despite Troy Parrott’s departure and a potential injury to Connor Mahoney.
The Lions signed Maikel Kieftenbeld and George Evans on permanent deals this month, and extended striker Kenneth Zohore’s loan from West Borm until the end of the season.
Parrott, 18, was recalled by Spurs on Monday after he was an unused substitute in the previous two league games. The forward immediately joined League One Ipswich Town on loan.
Evans, 26, joined from Derby County before Monday’s deadline on a long-term deal for an undisclosed fee. Evans can play in the centre of defence and in midfield.
Mahoney made his first competitive appearance of the season in Millwall under-23s’ 1-1 draw against Charlton on Monday, but went off just before half-time.
Rowett was hoping that Mahoney would fill the gap left by Parrott. Mahoney was due to have a scan later this week.
But Rowett said that potential setback didn’t alter transfer plans on Monday, with the Millwall boss pleased with this month’s business.
“You’re always open-minded in any window. If someone turns around at 10 o’clock at night and offers us a fabulous player that we think can help us, then great,” Rowett said.
“But I’m always loath to do something last-minute that’s reactionary.
“We’ve got to remember that we extended Kenneth Zohore’s deal in this window. That’s like another signing.
“We’ve got Bradders [Tom Bradshaw], Jon Dadi [Bodvarsson], Mason Bennett, Matt Smith, all who haven’t played as many minutes as they would have liked recently.
“So therefore my concern wasn’t necessarily on bodies and numbers, it was on a certain type of player. Then again hopefully Connor won’t be too bad.
“I don’t think we could have just chased something in the last hours in the desperate hope it worked. I’m never a big fan of that.”
Rowett ideally wanted to trim his squad to further strengthen, but Millwall had no suitable offers for their fringe players.
Rowett added: “There was no one we were desperate to offload, apart from the obvious ones who haven’t featured for a long time. You’re always open-minded about that.
“But at this moment in time with the League One wage cap being as it is you’re looking at letting a player out on a quarter or a fifth of his wages [with Millwall paying the rest], which doesn’t make very good business sense or football sense, either, to lose a player and not be able to replace them.
“We haven’t got a huge squad. We’ve got 20, 21 senior players and a few young players. We’re going to need lots of options.
“There wasn’t anything we desperately wanted to do and there wasn’t anything financially to sway us to do anything.
“We’ve said it before, it’s a difficult market. There wasn’t lots happening.”
Image: Millwall FC