Millwall set for wage rises for key men – but FFP crackdown could rein in spending

Millwall look likely to need to increase their wage budget to secure players on new deals – but more stringent punishments for clubs breaking FFP [financial fair play] rules is also a factor.

The Lions twice broke their transfer record in the summer window and also managed to fend off interest in Jed Wallace and Jake Cooper, from Middlesbrough and Glasgow Rangers respectively.

Boro did manage to secure George Saville, but only after blowing away Millwall’s record sale in a deal which the South London Press has previously revealed hit the £8million mark.

“We had offers for a number of our players,” said the Lions chief. “The club are looking at the whole squad and, where it can, try to secure players on long-term contracts.

“The aim is not to dismantle the team that did well, but to develop and build on it. It has been challenging because we lost George but in turn the additions will help us to repair that and to move on.

“Those kind of measures by the EFL will see a drawing back of people spending so much money on salaries. At the moment the market has been all over the place.

“Of course it means we are under pressure [to increase wages].

“There are times when the offers are a level you have to accept. But if you look at what we have spent this summer, it is a lot of money – more money this window than ever. We’ve reinvested.”

Kavanagh and manager Neil Harris have both been hugely critical of two deadlines being implemented in the last window – the initial cut-off in early August meaning nothing when EFL clubs could still strike loan deals.

Essentially it saw players moving now with a permanent deal locked in for January. That is the arrangement with Saville, but also the seven-figure swoops for Tom Bradshaw and Ryan Leonard from Barnsley and Sheffield United.

“It was fairly hectic,” said Kavanagh. “Interest in our players was only natural after such a fantastic season.

“That said, it was always going to be stressful when these things start happening.

“But we also knew what we wanted to achieve and we did achieve that, bar from losing George. But then we got Ryan Leonard in, which wasn’t in the plans.

“The rest of it was what Neil and the board set out in our planning meeting at the end of last season.

“We’ve invested a lot of money and broken our transfer record twice in a week, which is a major step forward. It was a chance to release the shackles of an event 29 years ago, that’s a positive. There was a conversation in the summer that it was something which had potentially held us back.

“The chairman has always developed and been ready to do thing in a progressive manner without spending the crazy money other clubs do and gambling to get to the Premier League. That is a FFP gamble we are not prepared to take.”

Kavanagh will use the next EFL meeting to push for a better summer window solution.

“The two-deadline scenario was an unmitigated disaster. It was ill-conceived and ill-thought through. As a club we voted against it. And after going through it there have been other problems.

“There are real intricacies that weren’t properly thought through.

“And for what? What was it for? Players still transferred from one club to another. George, in all but paperwork, is a Middlesbrough player. But technically he is still a Millwall player.

“So what was the point of it? To cosmetically look like we had closed the window at the same time as the Premier League? The EFL has the fifth biggest league in Europe and should be bigger than that. If it is going to close the deadline, close it.

“To cosmetically look like we did it and didn’t was just a shambles. I think there was a bit of embarrassment at the end. Within four hours of the window, someone took a player on loan and said it would become permanent on January 1. That is two fingers up to the window closing early.

“I will speak strongly at the next EFL meeting – we don’t want a repeat of such a cosmetic event in the future.”