Millwall boss explains why Zian Flemming did not start against former club Fortuna Sittard

Millwall manager Gary Rowett has revealed why Zian Flemming did not start today’s final pre-season friendly against Fortuna Sittard.

The Dutch club won 2-1 at The Den with their former number 10, dubbed the Bermondsey Bergkamp after last summer’s £1.7million move, coming on in the second half.

Millwall have rejected multiple bids from Burnley earlier in the transfer window.

“I left Duncan (Watmore) out last week because he has done a lot of work – he’s not had this type of pre-season where he has managed to get through all of it and be in such good shape,” said Rowett. “I felt with Zi it was just a good one to start Dunc and bring Zi on later on. We know what a good player Zian is – he scored 15 goals for us.

“I never felt today was going to just be an opportunity to pick the team that is going to start next week. Sometimes you don’t want to do that completely either – it gives the other team a very good opportunity to see exactly what you’re going to do.

“We just mixed it up a little bit today and we’ll have some good decisions to make during the week.”

Millwall have another week to go before they kick off the Championship season at Middlesbrough.

Asked about any other transfer activity before the trip to Teesside, Rowett said:  “I hope to get another couple of players through the door.

“It’s always this stage where, as a manager, you want things done. I’ve been saying that for seven or eight weeks but I understand it is never as realistic as that.

“In a positive sense if we can get another player in the door this week then fantastic. But these last few to do are always a little bit tricky. It’s certainly not me stamping my feet as a manager. Of course you want to improve the team all the time or try to improve the squad. It’s something we’ve been looking to do since the end of last season.”