GARY Rowett has said that Millwall are unlikely to make any new signings before Saturday’s away match against Middlesbrough.
The Lions will face Michael Carrick’s side in a crucial battle for the top six on Teesside, but are likely to travel to the Riverside Stadium with the exact same squad while continuing to work to add extra attacking depth to the group as soon as possible.
It will be their first Championship match without Benik Afobe, who was released from his contract to join Hatta Club last week. Isaac Olaofe is the only other departure so far, joining League Two side Stockport County on a permanent deal.
Millwall have made one new signing in January, bringing in 19-year-old forward Aidomo Emakhu from Shamrock Rovers as a like-for-like replacement for Olaofe. Rowett is still looking to fill the void left by Afobe as soon as possible, although he admitted that he is keen to add more players to his squad to give the Lions extra depth in the Championship run-in.
However, there has been an emphasis on taking time to find the right players to add to the team rather than rushing transfers just to get extra bodies through the door.
“I think it’s probably likely that we’ll travel to Middlesbrough with the squad that we’ve got at the moment,” Rowett told NewsAtDen.
“I think we all hoped that we would strengthen quite quickly, but it’s never that easy in this window.
“I know much has been said about Isaac going out, but we brought Aidomo in as a like-for-like replacement. We felt it was right to let Isaac go and start his career because he hadn’t really impacted what we were doing necessarily.
“I think the only real miss for us is Benik, and we need to replace him. We know that, we wouldn’t have let him go otherwise, and we’ll be working hard to bring at least two bodies in before the end of the window.
“It’s an age-old question, when you’re going to do it. You do it when you do it, that’s the simple fact of that. We’re working hard, Alex [Aldridge], Steve [Kavanagh], the lads, to try and get deals over the line.
“It’s the January window, it’s never easy. No one has really done much at the moment, which shows that lots of clubs are jostling them for similar players.”
Photo: Millwall FC