Rotherham United may sell players after Christmas, says Matt Hamshaw
MANAGER Matt Hamshaw accepts that he could lose star players in the January transfer window but says that no-one will be allowed to leave Rotherham United on the cheap.
The League One Millers recruited well in the summer, despite operating on a lower budget than the previous year, and already some members of his squad are attracting attention from elsewhere.
Ar'Jany Martha and Denzel Hall are among the new boys being checked out by scouts from a higher division while record signing Sam Nombe will also be a wanted man if he continues to hit goals at the same rate he has done since Hamshaw's late-March arrival.
“Look, would I like on February 1 to have all those players still here? Obviously, I would,” the boss said. “But I am well aware that if they keep playing as they're playing, we're going to have people who are interested in them.
“But then clubs would have to match our valuation.”
Championship sides are also monitoring the progress of young Manchester United loanee Dan Gore.
Rotherham came good in October, drawing one and winning five of the six matches as Hamshaw's rebuilding mission began to gather pace.
While the manager, obviously, isn't keen on bidding farewell to any of his top performers, he acknowledges that bringing in players and then making a profit on them is the way forward for the Millers.
“I think that you're always worried about January, aren't you?” he said. “It can be difficult, sometimes, when you work hard to get these players. But, also, I can't be a hypocrite. I can't sit here and say ‘I don't want that’, because that has been the plan.
“The plan is to bring in players who we might be able to move on at some point.”
Hamshaw's blueprint for the future centres on any proceeds from sales being used on further recruitment.
“We have to reinvest the fees in new players, and the club gets a lot stronger over a period of time,” he said. “I've stated that since day one.”