The inside view on Rotherham United new boy Christ Tiehi and the price he almost went for before joining the Millers

Christ Tiehi is finally a Rotherham United player

The midfielder has signed a three-year deal at AESSEAL New York Stadium.

ROTHERHAM United's new arrival would have commanded a near-seven-figure fee had things worked out differently for him last season.

Christ Tiehi this afternoon became a Miller but he'd be playing for Wigan Athletic this term had the Latics hung on to their Championship status.

The midielder was on loan at the DW Stadium for the second half of the 2022/23 campaign and a deal was in place for him to join the Latics permanently from Czech Republic side Slovan Liberec for £880,000.

Relegation scuppered that plan and Athletic's loss has become Rotherham's gain.

Paul Kendrick, a respected sports journalist for the Wigan Observer who watched all of Tiehi's 19 appearances, says the second-tier Millers will be getting a player with similar characteristics to Arsenal legend Patrick Vieria.

“Wigan had the £880,000 deal agreed if they stayed up and not one fan wouldn't have wanted to see it go through,” he said.

“Christ really bought into the club and everyone was sad to see him go.

“He's a box-to-box midfielder in the Vieira mould. He's so accomplished on the ball and he took responsibility from day one despite being a new player in a new country.

“He tailed off a little towards the end and was on the bench for a couple of games but that was only because he wasn't used to the physical nature of a division he'd been dropped into mid-season.”

The figure Rotherham are believed to be paying Liberec for his services is significant but not at the level of Wigan’s potential outlay.

Paris-born Tiehi, who started out with Le Havre, already had experience of English football before he moved to Wigan, having played for non-league Tonbridge Angels for a short spell in 2020 after a move to Bury, then in League One, fell through.