Football
Exclusive: Millwall Face Summer Fight to Keep Femi Azeez After Rejecting Record Bids
Millwall's star player Femi Aziz may leave if they don't get promoted. Despite offers from Ipswich and Bournemouth, the club is determined to keep him. Azeez's impressive performance has attracted interest, with a potential record fee of £20million. Millwall's hopes of keeping him beyond the current season rely on a promotion to the Premier League.
Millwall v Leicester City - Sky Bet Championship by NurPhoto | Getty Images
Millwall are braced to lose star man Femi Azeez if they fail to get promoted to the Premier League, SportsBoom can reveal.
The wing wizard has played a huge part in the Lions’ promotion bid this season with seven goals and three assists in his 19 league appearances this season.
Millwall fended off huge interest for their top scorer on deadline day from fellow Championship promotion contenders Ipswich Town and Premier League Bournemouth.
The Lions turned down fees that would have amounted to club-record sales, the previous record is the £14.5milllion they received for Romain Ease when he moved to Crystal Palace last year, for the impressive 24-year-old.
Bournemouth offered a fee in the region of £20million, while Ipswich were also rebuffed for a hefty record sum.
Millwall bosses understand the only way they will keep Azeez beyond the end of the current campaign is by being promoted themselves with the player destined to play in the Premier League.
In other news, Millwall enjoyed a strong January window, bolstering Alex Neil’s squad with the capture of veteran Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan, while further adding quality and depth through the loan signings of Brighton winger Tom Watson and Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson.
The Lions were also linked with a move for highly-rated young Owls striker Bailey Cadamarteri, but the teenager opted for a switch to Wrexham over a move to The Den.
Pretty Profit
Azeez signed from Reading for around £1million in 2024 and is contracted at The Den until 2028.
It is understood Reading have a significant sell-on percentage for the player.
Speaking after Millwall stood firm on deadline day, boss Alex Neil said: “What it shows is we recognise how important Femi’s been to our team. Ipswich are one point ahead of us currently. So it’s not as if we’re sitting in twelfth, and we need to cash in.”
“We’ve had a great season so far, and we’re continuing to have a great season, and I think keeping Femi certainly strengthens our hand. Jimmy deserves huge amounts of credit for sticking to his guns and allowing Femi to stay with us to the end of the season. We’re hoping that that’s going to pay dividends for him, for us, for everybody between now and the end.”
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