Matt Hamshaw on the January situation of Rotherham United top scorer Sam Nombe
SAM Nombe will stay with Rotherham United for the rest of the season unless a club puts eye-watering money on the table for the striker in the January transfer window, says Matt Hamshaw.
The manager began his January recruitment today by bringing in Leeds United teen hot-shot Harry Gray on loan to partner the fit-again Millers top scorer up front.
Twenty-seven-year-old Nombe, who has just recovered from a hamstring injury, has a year and a half left on his contract and won't be going anywhere this month, anticipates Hamshaw.
“Yeah, I'm confident hanging on to him,” he said. “It would take somebody coming in with a blow-us-out-of-the-water offer for us to sell. My stance on it, as you know, is that Sam, for me, is one of the best strikers - if not the best - in League One, so I don't want to lose him.”
Nombe has hit the target six times in ten appearances so far in a campaign in which he has been confined to the treatment room on three separate occasions. Hamshaw views him as a key man and needs him for the club's fight to escape the drop zone.
The frontman cost just over £1 million in 2023 and the likelihood is that he will be sold in the summer as Rotherham look to make money on their record signing.
While he is desperate to to keep Nombe, the boss is willing to bid farewell to some senior players this month as he seeks to free up funds for extra recruitment.
Centre-halves Sean Raggett and Zak Jules and midfielder Liam Kelly will be three of those he's prepared to let go and there will be others on top of that.
“We've had a few enquiries but nothing concrete from anybody,” he said.
No exits are imminent except for loanee centre-forward Kion Etete going back to parent club Cardiff City following a fruitless 14-match spell at AESSEAL New York Stadium.
Hamshaw remains in the market for another striker, a centre-half and a left wing-back.
“Everybody's kind of ringing around, and there's a lot of competition for the players who we would like,” he said. “January can be a difficult window to do business in, unless, obviously, you've got a big budget and you can spend whenever you want to.
“We'll try to wheel and deal, we'll try to get the best that we can and we'll try to shuffle it so that, come the beginning of February, we've got exactly what we'd like.”