Hakeem Odoffin and his Rotherham United contract situation ... the Paul Davis Column

I ask him about his contract situation, he gives me a polite response that tells me nothing.

It's been going on for about six months now, every time he's put up for press duties.

He knows the question is coming, I know the answer I'm getting and when the interview is over we joke about it.

‘Beat me again, Haks,’ I say when I'm no nearer knowing whether he's staying or leaving, and we both laugh.

The man who can operate with equal effect as a midfielder or a centre-half is in his fourth season with the Millers.

Rotherham have exercised a 12-month extension clause so this is his last year unless a fresh agreement is reached.

Manager Steve Evans has often gone on the record with his desire to keep the 26-year-old but says no fresh terms can be put on the table until the club are better placed in League One.

That leaves three possibilities: 1) Rotherham cash in on their asset in this month's transfer window. 2) Odoffin is offered and accepts a new deal. 3) He signs nothing and becomes a free agent with, no doubt, a number of sides seeking his services at the end of the campaign.

After previous failures to pin him down, I made my latest attempt after he'd scored the equaliser in the League One 1-1 home draw with Stockport County in the final match of 2024.

Question: “There's been no talks but your gaffer wants you. What do you feel about your future here?”

Answer: "I really appreciate all the good words from the manager. I don't take my place for granted. You know my mind-set about these kind of things. I pride myself on being focused on the games and the games only. The rest will take care of itself. For me, now, my full focus is on training and the games and that alone.”

Haks is a really good lad, by the way: open (unless we're talking new deals, of course), warm, intelligent.

He's a popular post-match presence in the AESSEAL New York Stadium suite or the interview room at Roundwood where pre-match press conferences are staged.

His value as a player is not in question. Most of his appearances have come at Championship level, he has real physical presence and his attitude is exemplary.

The last month has seen him playing in central defence and he and Zak Zules, on present form, are a combination to match any in the third tier.

I'm not one to give up easily, so I continued to press him after the Stockport encounter. His reply doesn't quite make grammatical sense, but you'll get his drift.

Question: "If the club want to talk, are you happy to talk?”

Answer: “Listen, whenever any conversations happen, then, you know, I'm a Rotherham United player and so those conversations will happen. I can't tell you the future. I don't know anything that hasn't already happened. All I can really tell you is about the games.”

It's a fudge – a good-natured, understandable fudge, but a fudge all the same: a protracted, courteous way of saying ‘No comment’.

As a journalist and, more pertinently, as a Millers supporter, I would love to see him remain at New York beyond the season, so I fervently hope that the next two paragraphs don't bear future scrutiny.

I've been doing this job for a long time. Experience has taught me that when a player is offered a chance to speak positively about the possibility of staying and doesn't take it, it generally means one thing …

They'll be going elsewhere.