Millwall boss on ‘open-minded’ approach as Forest push for Jed Wallace deal

Gary Rowett says Millwall have to be “open-minded” about January interest in Jed Wallace – with the South London club rejecting two bids from Nottingham Forest.

The Lions winger, who turns 28 in March, will be a free agent at the start of July.

It was claimed earlier this week that Wallace – who has scored 10 Championship goals in each of the previous two seasons – was close to signing a pre-contract agreement with Turkish side Besiktas.

But Forest manager Steve Cooper is also hot on the trail of the former Wolves and Portsmouth attacker. They saw an increased offer of £1.2million turned down earlier this week, a figure which Den sources privately described as derisory.

Rowett said: “We’re in a situation where we would love Jed to stay and sign a new contract but he is out of contract at the end of the season. We have to be open-minded to all scenarios.

“What we don’t want to do is lose one of our best players over the past four or five seasons for nothing.

“Our intention has always been to keep him and try to find a solution. We also have to be open to the possibility he has been here a while and that might not be what he wants to do.

“In football everything is always fluid. But it has been reported that a top European club has come in and offered a pre-contract, that might be an opportunity for him that it too good to turn down.

“You’ve got to put the shoe on the other foot sometimes. We’re looking at players that are out of contract with their clubs at the end of the season.”

Asked if he was aware of Besiktas’ interest prior to the story breaking on Wednesday, Rowett replied: “It’s not something I’d heard before Wednesday but it’s not my job to work out which speculation is correct or not correct.

“There are lots of good opportunities for a player of the level that Jed has been at. Lots of clubs will be interested in signing him, just as we would be interested in signing a player like that ourselves.”

Wallace has not played since December 11 due to a quad problem. Millwall host Palace in the FA Cup third round tomorrow.

Asked if Wallace was in the right head space to feature with question marks over his future, Rowett said: “Jed’s an incredibly professional player. I don’t think he’d be affected by any of the speculation.

“He did some light training on Wednesday but he has been out for the best part of four weeks now.

“He’s potentially available, but we have to assess whether or not he is fit enough to risk him in an FA Cup game.

“We’ll see how he trains this week. He will have only trained the three days.”