Rotherham United boss Matt Taylor's thoughts on striker Josh Kayode

“HE walks through the door and you think: 'God, that is a centre-forward's profile.”  

Josh Kayode's new look has certainly caught the attention of Rotherham United boss Matt Taylor.

The striker has used nine months of injury frustration to bulk up in the gym and has turned himself into an imposing, muscular presence.

Now his manager wants the 23-year-old to use all of his physical gifts to force his way into the frame for first-team selection in the upcoming Championship campaign.

“He's 6ft 3in, legs up to his armpits,” Taylor continued. “He can run, he's strong, he can head a ball, he's good enough with his feet.

“But there's a reason why his career has been where it's been. We want to be the home that he needs and the opportunity he needs.”

That reason is the knee complaint that kept Kayode's game-time to a minimum in a League One loan spell at MK Dons last term and then the quad surgery that ended his season in February.

Also, the frontman will admit himself that he hasn't so far quite made the most of what nature has blessed him with in a Millers shirt since graduating from the youth ranks.

The Irish youth international is back to full fitness and came on as a substitute in last Saturday's 3-0 pre-season victory at League One Lincoln City.

Taylor, who took the AESSEAL New York Stadium hot-seat when Kayode was at MK, is excited by the prospect of what the attacker might add to his squad.

“I've not seen him play ‘live’, I haven't seen the way he moves in a game or his character and personality,” the manager said.

“He looks hungry. And everyone knows that if he's hungry, with the physicality he's got, that there's a player there. We've got to see if we can find it and put it out on the pitch.”