MILLWALL have a list of number-one summer transfer targets – with Lions boss Neil Harris admitting it will be “a lot easier to get them” if they win promotion to the Premier League.
Like last year, Millwall’s recruitment team are planning for two outcomes this season, with the Lions still gunning for a top-six place.
Last summer, Harris signed seven players before the transfer deadline, all of them their first choices.
Harris admitted that probably would not have been possible had they not won promotion from League One, with the likes of Jed Wallace, George Saville and Jake Cooper committed to playing Championship football.
Millwall would be set for an incredible £100million windfall if they were promoted to the Premier League.
But Harris insisted their recruitment processes do not change.
“What we did last year was we had players in mind that we were going to go after, number-one targets,” Harris said. “We got them all. Would we have got them all in League One? I’m not so sure, it would have been a lot tougher.
“We’ll have our first-choice targets for the summer that we would like to bring in. It will be a lot easier to get them if we are in the league above. It will be a lot tougher to get them if you are in the Championship.
“Then you have your plan B, plan C and that’s worked for us the last couple of years. We’re not going to change that now.
“We try to identify the best possible players we can that fit into our system of play and to try and move us forward.
“That applies whatever league we’re in.
“The finances [of the Premier League] would dictate it would be a completely different standard and then we can re-evaluate.
“But at the moment the recruitment department go about their business on a daily basis, go to games and have to prepare going forward.
“The knowledge we have picked up this season in the Championship has been invaluable to be able to move forward with a group of players.
“Whether that’s Premier League or Championship my job is to solely focus in the next two games and pick the right teams, the right formations to get two results.
“But I also have to have one eye on overseeing [recruitment for] the first-team group and the under-23s.”
Image: Millwall FC