Zak Dearnley and his Rotherham United trial

The former Manchester United youngster was due to play in a private workout last Thursday in his bid to earn a deal with the League One Millers after his release from Old Trafford.

But he pulled up with an injury on the eve of the in-house contest at the club's Roundwood training complex.

"Unfortunately for him, he pulled his quad on Wednesday," manager Paul Warne said. "Before I make a decision, I need to see him in a game."

Dearnley, who had been training with Rotherham for nearly three weeks will be offered another opportunity by the Millers once he has recovered.

"When he's fit again, if he hasn't got anything else fixed up, we'll have another look at him and let him play in a reserve game," Warne said.

"We've left the door open to him and told him we want him to come back in again. He's a free agent. He was doing well.

"We had a game amongst ourselves with a few youth-team players. That would have been an ideal chance for him.

"We have to see something that suggests if I put him in the first team tomorrow he could potentially play the next five games.

"He'd been doing really well in training. But being involved in individual practice and position-specific practice and keep-balls isn't the same as playing in a game.

"Sometimes players can be amazing at things like that and are then non-existent in games. I'm not saying that would have happened to Zak. If he suddenly starts going past Joe Mattock or something, you take notice."

Dearnley, aged 20, was on Manchester United's books for two and half years and played nine League Two games last season during a loan spell at Oldham Athletic.

He has had an offer to play in America but wants to stay in England.