Millwall boss Rowett: The most important thing is that Mahlon Romeo’s loan at Portsmouth is a success
Millwall manager Gary Rowett is pleased that Mahlon Romeo is impressing for Portsmouth – and has emphasised that is the most important thing in any loan deal.
Pompey manager Danny Cowley’s claimed today that the League One club would struggle to sign the defender on a permanent basis.
The Lions right-back made the switch at the end of the last transfer window. Romeo is set to spend the full campaign on loan with Cowley’s side.
The Pompey boss claimed that Sunderland and Ipswich were also interested in the 26-year-old before he completed a temporary move to the South Coast club.
“It would be tough to sign Mahlon Romeo permanently, but we’d love to have him,” Cowley told the Portsmouth News. “We didn’t anticipate Mahlon would become available to us. It wasn’t one we could predict, he became available right at the end of the window. It was too good an opportunity to turn down.
”I thought he was going to Ipswich and there was even Sunderland, but he wanted to stay down south. He’s been a machine, really good.”
Asked about Cowley’s comments, Rowett told the South London Press: “The first thing to say is that Mahlon felt as though a fresh start was what he needed. He’s been quite open about that. I’m pleased it has gone really well – that’s the most important thing.
“He’s a good guy who has done well for this football club. We hope any loan move for any loan player goes how they want it to go.
“I’ve watched a lot of his clips and his games, it looks like he has relished that regular football.
“The second part is that I can only say the way I do things as a manager, that I wouldn’t talk in quite so much detail about someone else’s player. That’s just my opinion. I think that’s the right thing to do. Some of those details are private things and should only be between the clubs, players and agents – rather than out in the wide world.
“I try to focus on my own players and my own club and not talk about other players in so much detail, that’s the key takeaway from me on how we do things.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD