Millwall boss coy over whether fresh moves will be made for January transfer targets

Gary Rowett is remaining coy on whether Millwall will revisit moves for some of their January targets when the next window opens.

The Lions saw their bid for Hibernian centre-back Ryan Porteous rejected and were also keen on a deal for Motherwell midfielder Allan Campbell, who is out of contract in the summer.

The Football Insider website claimed that Millwall and Coventry both failed with deadline day moves for Zulte Waregem defender Cameron Humphreys, but the South London Press understands no approach was made.

Rowett said: “We had some really good targets, a couple of young players in Scotland who have done really well at their clubs and we saw real potential for the future – not necessarily right now.

“The offers that we made were rejected by their clubs and the clubs have every right to do that. They are contractually tied to the club – whether they are players we will pursue in the summer remains to be seen.

“We had some very good targets and we cast our net pretty wide – there were also players abroad as well as the UK. There was a lot we tried to pursue and that’s what I was really saying about us being really proactive.

“We’re pretty happy with what we did.

“There were a couple of striker options on the last day, as usually happens. But there was never quite enough movement in the market to free up one or two players.”

Millwall were also one of the clubs to try and land Alex Mowatt.

But we reported earlier in the window that the Barnsley captain was set to run down the final months of his terms – opening the door to lucrative personal terms as a free agent in the summer.

The Lions added Maikel Kieftenbeld on a free transfer from Birmingham City.

George Evans, who can play central defence and a midfield anchoring role, also arrived on a permanent from Derby.

Asked about Mowett, Rowett replied: “It is an awkward one when a player is out of contract at the end of the season. If an agent is doing his job he is going to see what interest is out there in January as he is legally able to talk to other clubs about a pre-contract.

“If a pre-contract is done then great, if not are clubs prepared to sell now? But if the player has got a real value then you get an issue for a club.

“We had it with Lee Gregory a couple of seasons ago. You see what you can get now if he has made it clear he is not re-signing and has rejected contract offers. If you feel there is a fair value in January you let him go, if it doesn’t meet the valuation of the club you decide to just keep them and let them go on a free [in the summer].

“There are one or two out there, the likes of Alex, who are really good players and out of contract at the end of the season. When agents ring you then you’re going to have that interest but it didn’t quite come to anything.”