What a forthcoming loan exit could mean for Rotherham United's Tolaji Bola

TOLAJI Bola is poised to leave AESSEAL New York Stadium in a loan move that could signal the end of his Rotherham United career.  

The former Arsenal prospect has made only three league starts since his arrival at the Millers in 2021 and isn't in manager Matt Taylor's first-team thinking for the new Championship season.

The boss wants Bola to play his football with another club during the 2023/24 campaign, which would take the athletic left-back to the end of his three-year Rotherham deal.

“Tolaji will go out on loan,” Taylor said. “He needs to find rhythm and consistency in his game.”

The 24-year-old has spent more time in the Millers treatment room than he would have liked and dropped down to League Two last season in a temporary switch to Bradford City where he was also sidelined by fitness issues.

It's almost a year since the defender, who can also play at wing-back, made a Rotherham appearance, coming on as a substitute in a 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough in September that turned out to be previous manager Paul Warne's final match in the hot-seat.

“We need to find a home for Tolaji. He understands that,” Taylor said. “For regular game-time he needs to go elsewhere. He's had too many injuries during his time here. That's probably affected his game-time.”

Bola has put himself in the shop window by playing well in the summer friendlies and arguably his best performance in a Millers shirt came in the 1-0 win over Premier League Sheffield United even though he was deployed on the opposite flank to which he's accustomed.

He was an unused substitute in Saturday's opening-day clash at Stoke City.

In total, he has featured 15 times for Rotherham, with seven of those outings coming in the Papa Johns Trophy.