Femi Azeez beginning to get fully back up to Championship speed after summer switch to Millwall
BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk
Femi Azeez needs four more appearances to rack up 50 matches in the Championship – with the Millwall winger admitting that stepping back up to England’s second tier in August required a period of adjustment.
But there are more than a few signs that the 23-year-old winger is not only making that adaptation but also beginning to flourish.
Azeez supplied the crosses for the matchwinning goals scored by Casper De Norre and Jake Cooper against Swansea and Burnley respectively.
And when we sat down earlier this week at the Lions’ Calmont Road training ground, the former Reading player admitted he is also pushing to get the assist for Josh Coburn’s strike at Stoke City – describing the deflection off Junior Tchamadeu as “a little nick”.
Azeez has made four starts in 12 matches for Millwall but three of those have come in the last five fixtures. It underlines that head coach Neil Harris is also pleased at how the club’s number 11 is acquitting himself.
“At first I found it difficult because this is my first move, as a professional, to a new club,” Azeez told the South London Press. “Getting used to everything again was a bit of a shock to the system.
“The boys here are very, very good and instantly helped me feel welcome.
“Settling into the squad was pretty quick but settling into the pace of the Championship? That took a little bit more time.
“I’m still not fully, fully there but I’m there or thereabouts. Going from League One to the Championship is a big, big jump. I had to find my feet again.
“The speed of the game and the mental side of it as well means you always need to be switched on.
“In League One you can get away with not always being mentally switched on – here and there you can switch off and you won’t be punished. In the Championship though you are playing teams like Burnley and Leeds – they are relentless and can punish you in a second.
“I’ve been here three months. The more starts I get – the more I play – the more I’ll be able to feel up to the pace. The last week before the break against Burnley, Leeds and Stoke – particularly Burnley and Stoke – I feel I was able to show more of myself.
“I’m just trying to give my best, really, and work hard. I’m still taking it day by day, not looking too far ahead of myself. I’m taking each game and each challenge as it comes – just building on it.
“The wins over Leeds and Burnley were huge. We needed those. We had been playing very well but not necessarily getting the results we wanted at the time. Those wins were a credit to our hard work.
“We need to keep that momentum going.”
Azeez’s personal aim is to try and solidify a starting space in the Millwall team.
He is able to play on either wing but England Elite international Romain Esse looks to have the right-sided role.
With George Honeyman doing a sterling job at number 10, only lacking goals to go alongside his boundless energy, it looks like the left flank is his most likely source of game time.
Even then he is vying for that position with the Lions’ top scorer, Duncan Watmore.
“I have got Duncan and Romain ahead of me right now who are on another level – incredible,” said Azeez.
“Trying to catch up with them will be difficult, but if I put in enough work I will hopefully get there. I’m talking about goals but also how they are performing – both are playing very well and the numbers speak for themselves.
“I feel like there is still quite a lot of development left to come.
“Coming through at non-league from around 14 to 18, I didn’t get as much training as some of the boys here who were in an academy all the way through.
“There is still a gap from where I want to be to where I am now. Every day I am learning.”
The goal, unsurprisingly, is for Azeez to reach the glittering prize that is the Premier League.
The club he supported as a boy was Manchester United but he was an unused substitute when Reading lost at Old Trafford in a 2023 FA Cup fourth round tie.
“I must have been four or five and they (United) were the first game that I watched,” said Azeez. “I saw them on TV and it was ‘yeah, that’s my team’.
“I was a bit distraught that I never came on in the cup game. But I warmed up on the pitch and soaked up the atmosphere, it was amazing because there was 70,000-plus people there. Crazy.
“I’d loved to play there.
“I asked four players – including Casemiro and Fred – for their shirts and they said they had given them away already. I was back on the coach and so upset.”
While the Theatre of Dreams is on his footballing bucket list, The Den will more than do for the time being.
Azeez never experienced Millwall’s home ground as an opposition player.
“The atmosphere when it is packed out is incredible,” he said.
“When everyone is singing together, like against Leeds and Burnley, I literally couldn’t hear myself think. You can’t always hear what is being said to you. Sometimes you just rely on pointing or eye contact.”
Harris has talked about his Lions fearing no foe in SE16 and Azeez responds with one word – “definitely” – when asked if he agrees with the boss’ statement.
“Like Neil said, we all feel The Den is a fortress,” said Azeez. “We will take on the challenge, fight and ultimately get the three points.”
Millwall’s defensive stability has been critical. To put it into some kind of context, they have not scored more than one goal in their last seven matches but remain unbeaten over that period, winning four of them.
“It gives us a lot of confidence because then we (the attacking players) can go and try things that potentially we couldn’t have done before,” said Azeez.
“We can take our man on one-v-one and if we lose the ball we have got the back four and others behind us. It helps sweep up the mess, I guess you could say.
“As every game has gone on we have got more and more solid. It means we can go on and play our game.
“I would say we have the capability to be in that play-off mix. I don’t want to look too far ahead because if you do then you lose track of where you are now.
“If we keep building, getting those three points, then ultimately we will be in that position.”
MAIN PICTURE: BRIAN TONKS