MILLWALL boss Gary Rowett expects summer transfer activity to tick up ahead of the Lions’ return to pre-season training.
The Millwall squad are due back at Calmont Road on June 22 for physical and fitness testing to establish baseline numbers to measure against when the real pre-season work starts.
The Lions’ biggest requirements this summer are in attack, where from last season’s squad they have lost Benik Afobe, Oliver Burke, Sheyi Ojo and Connor Mahoney, though the latter two didn’t feature regularly.
Rowett has already said he would be interested in deals for Afobe from Stoke City and Burke from Sheffield United.
The big question still hanging over the squad concerns the future of Jed Wallace. The attacker returned to England after his wedding last week in Spain – where he was joined by ex-Lions including Alex Pearce, Shaun Williams and Tom King – and had said in a recent podcast he wouldn’t make a decision until after the celebrations.
If he leaves then Millwall face the daunting task of replacing a player who got into double-figures in goals in two of the last three seasons and double-figures in assists in each of them.
Rowett is confident some business will have been done by the time the squad return from their summer break.
“I would hope so. We’re working very, very hard. I’ve had lots of meetings behind the scenes to try to make those happen,” Rowett said. “I know Alex [Aldridge] is working extremely hard as well.
“I think this summer has followed a very similar pattern as usual where there is a lot of speculation at first, then it dies down when everyone is away on holiday.
“I think it will start to pick up [this] week and then the week after you’ll see a little bit of action everywhere.
“We want to be part of that, we want to bring the majority of our players in if we can before the 22nd, which is when we’re back.
“But it doesn’t always work like that and we want the right players regardless of when that is.
“We’re doing lots of work behind the scenes and that’s a mix of permanent options to buy, some loan options – there’s a blend of everything.”
Millwall will travel to Ireland at the start of July for their training camp at Fota Island Resort in Cork. It is where the Republic of Ireland squad spent time preparing for Euro 2016.
The five-star resort’s website says: “The main attraction of this excellent training facility is the pristine playing area, which measures 155m x 130m. This is the equivalent of two soccer pitches, two rugby pitches, or a GAA pitch the size of Croke Park.
“The pitch can be watered as requested, the grass length specified, and the viewing platform can be moved as required.
“Next to the training pitch is the recreation building, housing a high performance gym built specifically to cater for teams, with extra gym equipment available upon request. Recovery requirements are catered for with ice baths, exclusive out-of-hours access to the swimming and hydro pools, and use of our unique ‘walking river’ which utilises water currents and reflexology to revitalise the body.”
Rowett explained why they chose Ireland this year, with the airport travel chaos over the summer one factor.
Rowett said: “I’ve tended to have training camps in Spain, Tenerife, other options, but I think with travel at the moment still in a little bit of carnage it’s easier to stay fairly domestic.
“We went to Scotland the last couple of times and had a really good training camp there.
“We’ll mix it up this time, we’re going to go to Fota Island and we’ll see how it is. It’s something a little bit different for the players, different scenery.
“We’ll get some good work done and I think that’s the main thing. The weather allows you to work a little bit harder and for a little bit longer than perhaps a 30 degree morning in Spain allows you to do. There are limitations to that.”
Image: Millwall FC