JOE Edwards said he understands the speculation surrounding interest in Romain Esse but is confident he will still be a Millwall player by the end of the transfer window.
Reports in the last 24 hours have linked both Hull City and Burnley with a move for the 18-year-old attacker, who came through Millwall’s youth set-up.
There are high hopes for his potential and he has also caught the eye playing for England under-19s.
Last week the questions around the youngster was whether or not his development would be aided by a loan deal away from Millwall but now, with less than three days left in this window, the Lions could have a fight on their hands to not lose the teenager permanently.
Esse has had limited game time in recent months but did enjoy 45 minutes in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Preston North End after Ryan Longman went off at half-time with a shoulder problem.
Asked about the speculation, Lions boss Edwards told NewsAtDen: “I gather there’s been some sort of interest which to me is totally understandable when you’re talking about a young England international playing at a Championship level and probably not getting the ideal amount of game time he would have liked in recent weeks and months, albeit he came on [against Preston] on Saturday and did well, the most amount of minutes he’s gotten for a while.
“I gather why there would be speculation because that’s completely normal but from my point of view, there’s nothing I’ve had to make decisions on or give much thought of. As far as I’m concerned, Romain’s here training with us every day and he’s a player that certainly for the long-term I want to be part of [the team] and I want to keep working with.”
When Edwards was asked if he was confident of Esse still being a Millwall player on Friday morning, once the window has closed, he said: “Yeah, yeah I am.”
Millwall play one of the teams linked to Esse on Saturday when they take a trip to Liam Rosenior’s Hull.
Burnley, the other team who are reportedly interested in the young star, had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to land midfielder Zian Flemming last summer.