‘It wound me up’ – Jed Wallace on January rumours as Millwall talisman set to make 250th appearance for Lions

Jed Wallace was left feeling “wound up” over claims he was not injured during the January transfer window.

The Millwall attacker is due to be a free agent at the start of July and the South London club knocked back two bids from Nottingham Forest.

Wallace, 27, is set to make his 250th appearance for the Lions if he features at Reading tomorrow.

A quad injury kept the former Wolves and Portsmouth attacker out from December 11 until the start of February.

And Wallace has rubbished any suggestion that his unavailability  at the start of 2022 was an attempt to push through a transfer.

“It wound me up,” he told the South London Press.

“I’ve played 240-odd games for this club and all the work I enjoy and love doing, in the community and behind the scenes, if people really think I would chuck it in then they obviously don’t watch the games – or they haven’t seen anything I’ve done with a Millwall badge on my chest.

“This is the world we live in though, you have two or three negative comments for every 500 good ones. That’s up to them.

“I also had hundreds of great messages from fans saying: ‘We know that you’re injured and look forward to you getting back’.

“The people who know me as a player, and as a person, recognise I wouldn’t do that.

“I can understand why it looked like that. I’ve never been injured in six years and then I’m injured all of a sudden.

“My overriding feeling of frustration was that I couldn’t play football – and that’s what I love to do – whether that’s for Millwall or with my kids in the garden.

“I was down in January, but that had nothing to do with anything else, other than the fact I was injured.

“I’ve been back playing properly for four games and we’ve won all of them.”

Wallace was linked with Turkish club Besiktas during the January window.

He was the subject of a £6million bid from Middlesbrough in August 2018 but Millwall only agreed to sell George Saville, now back on their books, to the Teessiders.

“If I’ve got five minutes or five years on my contract, judge me on what you see on the pitch,” said Wallace.

“The day that I stop running or pull out of a tackle, then boo me. I’m sure my dad would be the first one to beat me up in the players’ lounge if he saw me do that. That’s never going to happen.

“I care too much about football, especially a club that I have played so many games for.”

Wallace is on the verge of a milestone quarter-century of matches for the SE16 outfit.

“A hundred bad ones, a hundred good ones and 49 average ones,” he joked. “I’ve got a lot better in the last three years, finding that consistency in my game.

“You can be defined by one kick of the ball – but I know I’ve given my absolute b****** for every minute in every game.

“Whether I’ve played well or not is another thing, but I know I’ve given my all.”