Millwall boss outlines January transfer window plan for winger

Gary Rowett has explained why Tyler Burey will be staying at Millwall – at least until later in the January transfer window.

Hartlepool had been keen to extend the winger’s loan for the remainder of the season.

But Burey is back with the South Londoners after the expiration of his initial temporary deal.

Millwall have seen their squad options decimated by injuries and Covid-19 cases. They only named 14 first-team players for Sunday’s 3-2 Championship loss at Bristol City.

Burey only recently returned to full fitness and hooked back up with Pool after a major hamstring injury.

Rowett told the South London Press: “At this moment in time, because of a lack of bodies, we feel we’ve got no option really other than to bring him back. Then we’ll assess where the squad is in a week’s time.

“If you’re looking at an ideal scenario it is that he comes back, we have a little look for a week or two, and we see if we lose or add any players in January – then we made a decision.

“Ideally he gets a season of football. That was always the plan for him, Alex Mitchell and Isaac Olaofe. But we’ve got to edge our bets on this one. We also want to be as fair as we can to Tyler, because he wants to play games, and to Hartlepool.

“He had a really explosive start at Hartlepool with three goals and if he had stayed clear of injury it would probably have been a slightly easier decision whether he came back to us or stayed out. The likelihood is that he’d probably have come back into our squad.

“If we were going to send him back anywhere it would be Hartlepool. We’re not trying to do it to send him out to a higher level or to get more money – it’s about games. We want to be fair to Hartlepool, because they have been really good through the whole process.”