Millwall manager Alex Neil.placeholder image
Millwall manager Alex Neil. | AFP via Getty Images
Premier League sides Everton and Wolves have been credited with interest in Millwall rising star Mihailo Ivanovic.
Millwall look set to have a busy summer in the striker department this year as the Lions prepare to challenge for a play-off spot in the Championship next season.
Alex Neil’s side have already completed the coup of bringing Middlesbrough man Josh Coburn to The Den on a permanent transfer following his loan spell. The 22-year-old scored five important goals for Millwall last season, winning 10 points with those strikes.
Neil had made no secret of his desire to bring Coburn back to the club but it was not clear whether Boro would sanction a transfer to strengthen a Championship rival also targeting a top six finish. However, in an impressive move, Millwall have completed that deal already.
Millwall make Josh Coburn move from Middlesbrough permament
Neil told NewsAtDen: “To get him back this early is probably abnormal. Every manager wants to get everybody back before pre-season starts.
“Josh, we’ve seen him in close quarters. He came back from an injury after being out for quite a few months. We can see the potential that he’s got and how him and Mihailo in particular, developed a good partnership at the top end of the pitch.
“To get a British player, 22, six-foot-five, can score goals, can run, can take the ball in, can do all those sorts of bits in the game, they’re rare. There’s not many of them about, so we’re delighted that we could get Josh back and more importantly, get him back in the time frame we have to allow us to get pre-season together.”
As well as striker incomings, Millwall could have to fight off interest in one of their first team stars, or prepare for an outgoing. Everton and Wolves were both credited with interest in the impressive Mihailo Ivanovic late last month with the Serbian scoring 14 goals across all competitions in an impressive debut campaign.
Millwall eye Hull City transfer hijack
Millwall paid a reported £2.8 million for Ivanovic last year and have awarded him the number nine shirt for the upcoming season. The club will not want to lose their rising star yet, but a big money bid from a Premier League outfit may be hard to turn down.
Should that happen, it appears as if Millwall have found a potential replacement in Sparta Rotterdam striker Tobias Lauritsen. The forward is a more experienced option that Ivanovic at 27 years old with Soccer News carrying reports of Lions interest.
Any move for Lauirtsen would come as somewhat of a hijack over Hull City interest. The Tigers appear to be frontrunners for the player, who scored 10 goals in 33 Eredivisie appearances last season. Oxford United are also named as potential suitors.
The striker is known for his aerial presence and could pose danger to Championship defences, but will surely only be recruited by Millwall in a world where they are forced to lose Ivanovic this summer.
In other news, Millwall set to secure last gasp contract agreement as deal officially expires.
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