GARY Rowett has revealed Millwall are currently negotiating deals for two transfer targets – but the Lions boss is keeping his cards close to his chest on the identity of the players he wants to add to his squad.
Rowett made Ryan Woods his first signing of the summer this week after Millwall struck a season-long loan agreement with Stoke.
The Lions want to sign at least one forward, with Wigan striker Kieffer Moore a target. Another player Millwall are understood to be in talks for is Tottenham centre-forward Troy Parrott. The 18-year-old Ireland international made his senior debut for Spurs last season against Colchester in the League Cup. He made two substitute appearances in the Premier League and one in the FA Cup.
Millwall – who signed Harry Kane from Tottenham as an 18-year-old in 2012 – want Parrott on loan.
Rowett’s squad return for pre-season training in just two weeks.
“I think what everyone is accepting and respecting is that they haven’t got as long a timescale to get deals done,” Rowett said. “Also I don’t think people are going to be able to claim quite such lucrative deals. If someone gets offered a good deal, I think agents and players are taking that a lot more seriously than maybe they would have previously.
“We’ve done the Woods one but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to do everything really quickly. We’ve got a couple of deals at the moment that we’re part-way through, but any of those could fall on their face at any minute or they could get done at any minute.
“It’s as simple as that. It’s very difficult to pinpoint a timescale.
“I’m not going to discount in our out any name. There are going to be a lot of names mentioned that we genuinely haven’t looked at currently.
“That’s not to say that the likes of Alex [Aldridge, recruitment head] hasn’t made contact with a number of players’ agents just to see what the situation is.
“From my point of view some of the names out there are not necessarily people we’re chasing or interested in at the moment.”
Millwall finished last season with a senior first-team squad of 23 players, including loanees. James Brown, Hayden Muller and Tyler Burey made their league debuts on the final day of the season.
Rowett wants a similar-sized squad of first-team players next season, augmented by those youngsters trying to gain regular places in the side.
Rowett explained: “That’s been one of the reasons we’ve been so keen to blood some of the younger players. When you look at any squad there needs to be a balance. The balance for us is both financial and numbers, and obviously you don’t want too many senior players in your squad not playing.
“That’s where the young players come into it, they’re there to fill the squad out and try to push to get in the team.
“I see us being in a similar boat, 22, 23 senior players that would expect to be in and around the team, and then from there we’ve got some really, really good young players coming through that we want to see if we can push them into the first team.
“I think that would balance out the squad financially and from a competition point of view.”
Image: Millwall FC