Millwall thinking ‘outside the box’ in January window as boss Gary Rowett discusses Oliver Burke loan return

Gary Rowett has no doubt about the quality that Oliver Burke can add to his Millwall squad.

The Scottish attacker, 25, signed for the Lions on loan from Werder Bremen yesterday.

Rowett worked with Burke in the second half of last season, the former Forest and RB Leipzig player signing then on a temporary deal from Sheffield United.

And the Lions chief has been a long-term admirer of Burke.

Rowett told the South London Press: “He’s a player that I tried to sign previously (at other clubs) and felt he fits how we want to play. Also we wanted to sign him in the summer. The reason I wanted to sign him is because he just started to build that extra bit of confidence with us. He scored a couple of goals and statistically showed that he can effect games in the final third.

“He’s just that type of player that we haven’t really got. We haven’t got that player with just blistering pace that can get us up the pitch in a tight game and open it up.

“He’s a player that I just need to find him space, as a manager, and he’ll do the rest – get him enjoying his football again. When the opportunity came up it was one we were very keen to try and explore.

“We were very close to signing him (in the summer). We thought we virtually had it done and Werder Bremen came in last minute and offered him a deal that was financially more attractive than ours, and it was the Bundesliga. I always view things as a player as well, and if I look at it as a player I think he probably had to take that opportunity.

“The fact that we’re then able to take him four, five, six months later is a no-brainer. If his qualities were right then, his qualities are right now.

“Sometimes, as a club, we have to think outside the box. People will be sat there saying why aren’t we signing a goalscorer – a 15 or 20 goal striker – but that is very difficult for us to do, otherwise we’d simply just do it. So we have to find players that just need a little bit of a different environment, different circumstances and different instructions to try and add most of the qualities we’re looking for.”

Werder Bremen technical director Clemens Fritz had been quoted in December urging Burke to produce more in a Bremen shirt.

“He needs to show his abilities better and more frequently otherwise he will find it hard to beat off the competition for a starting slot,” said Fritz.

Rowett said: “What you do is look at a team in the Bundesliga and to get where they want to get to, they have to have a very strict way of playing and players have to fit into that. I always feel that someone like Burkey probably needs a little more freedom to play. So everyone judges it differently.

“You can only judge it on your system. For Werder Bremen it looks, to me, like it’s been easier for him to come on and impact games.

“I’m not there, so I don’t know what each manager and coach wants. But you respect how each team plays. In some ways, that is the type of player we try to get – not having done quite what they can do and it’s up to us to try and get it out of them.

“I’ve probably spent 10 years trying to do that. That’s kind of the parameters to get a player who could be a top player, but hasn’t quite done that in the last 12 months. Otherwise you take someone who has done okay at lower levels, then it’s the challenge of whether they can do what you want them to do and there’s that real lack of surety.

“Whatever has happened to Oli in the last six months is between him and Werder Bremen. We’re grateful they’ve let him come out on loan. Hopefully we can help them by giving him a bit more regular game time and getting a little bit more of that ability out.”