MILLWALL have added three new signings to their squad in the last nine days, but Gary Rowett is keen to increase his options before the end of the transfer window.
The Lions boss has already brought Zian Flemming, George Honeyman and Benik Afobe to The Den on permanent deals, while a number of other players have been linked with moves to South London. The club are close to signing Leeds United centre-back Charlie Cresswell on loan.
Although Rowett told NewsAtDen that he wanted increased competition in the first team, he also said that he was keen to have versatile players who can cover a number of positions.
“I think there are different ways of doing it but every player in the squad has to have competition.
“Whilst players want game-time and they almost want to be guaranteed the chance to play games, at the same time you also have to provide the competition so that people have to perform. That’s really, really important.
“We’ll try to find that in different ways. I’ve never been one for having two in each position who can only play in those positions. You need flexibility in the squad, the flexibility to change games.
“We certainly want to improve every area of the squad and make people have to work to get in the team. It’s as simple as that.
“How we do it is up to us to try to find the right balance.”
Despite this, Rowett did set an approximate target for how many new additions he would like this summer, although admitted that the number may change depending on how many young players can break into the first-team squad.
“I think if you look at the players we lost last year and the numbers we lost, we’ve got about seven, eight, nine players that aren’t here now that were here last season.
“But it’s hard to put a number on it. It depends on how many young players can push into that group. I think originally in the summer we were looking at probably six or seven signings.
“Whether that’s the exact number of whether there’s less than that or more than that will depend on how pre-season goes and how the balance looks.”
Image: Millwall FC