Loan exit No 2 for Rotherham United defender Curtis Tilt after "candid" talk with boss Paul Warne

CENTRE-HALF Tilt today headed out on loan for the second time after being told by manager Paul Warne he is down the pecking order at Rotherham United.

The 29-year-old will spend the rest of the season at League One Wigan Athletic where he spent the first half of the campaign.

He came back to AESSEAL New York Stadium earlier this month in a bid to earn a first-team place with the Championship Millers only for Warne to inform him that four other centre-halves are in front of him.

"The three centre-halves are playing really well and Robbo (Clark Robertson) is ahead of him as well so Curtis is fifth choice," the boss said. "I have sat him down and been candid with him

"If he wanted to stay and compete for his opportunity then great. But if after two or three weeks he is going to sit there with the face on and be frustrated that he is not playing on a Saturday afternoon, then he is better going elsewhere.

"I don't blame him for that. He wants to play every Saturday. Some players don't play but see their opportunity to get into the team. Some players don't see an opportunity and Curtis at this moment feels he is better going somewhere else."

Michael Ihiekwe, Richard Wood and Angus MacDonald have all been impressing at the back in Rotherham's new 3-5-1-1 formation and Robertson is next in line after recovering from a fractured foot.

Tilt joined the Millers on a £100,000 deal from Blackpool last January but his early days at New York were blighted by a hip problem and he managed only an hour of football last term before undergoing an operation.

Warne offered the defender, whose contract runs until the summer of 2023 a ray hope that he could still have a future with the club.

"He needs to play games because he has come back after a pretty horrendous injury and surgery," the manager said.

"He goes with our blessing. We don't hold anyone back. Hopefully he will have a really good time at Wigan, come back in pre-season and the annual battle to get in the team will start again."

Further exits are expected before the January transfer window closes on Monday night and there could be a new arrival, with Warne chasing the signature of an attacking midfielder.