Warne looks to other targets after Maris no-go

The 22-year-old was set to sign on Thursday until a late snag scuppered the deal. Maris caught the eye for the League Two outfit last season, scoring ten goals. He also netted four times during the Us’ pre-season friendlies and had a year to run on his contract.

"I really liked the kid and wanted to sign him but unfortunately it just didn’t come together in the end,” said Warne, speaking after yesterday’s opening-day league defeat at Brentford.

Rotherham are short of numbers in the engine room. Matt Palmer and Will Vaulks filled the central midfield positions at Griffin Park and even if the result had been a positive one, a new recruit in that area would still have been a priority. The deadline for permanent transfers is  5pm on Thursday.

“Obviously you can see we are lacking in the middle of the pitch. I need another midfielder and don’t really need the window to shut. We are doing everything we can,” said Warne.

George Maris

“Just because we have lost away to Brentford, I am not being a drama queen, saying we haven’t enough players in the dressing room, that’s not the case. Obviously we do need some quality and I would love to sign another midfielder.

“I’m hopeful we can get one in before next week’s game against Ipswich and that’s no disrespect to Matty and Will, you can’t expect them to play another 45 games at this level.”

Warne accepted full responsibility for the 5-1 beating at the hands of a far superior Brentford side, delivering a major jolt on the Millers’ return to the Championship.

He added: “The lads physically gave me everything they had. It was a very tough game on a hot day. Brentford are a possession based team. We asked our players to play narrow but Brentford kept switching the play and have some amazing players.

Joe Newell shakes off Brentford's Josh McEachran.

“At 1-0 we had a good chance to score through Joe Newell and after the drinks break we looked a good side but to concede just before half time was a killer.

“It was a rude awakening for us, myself included. I picked the team and it’s not the lads’ fault, they played the way I asked them to play. We just came up against an amazing Brentford side and we won’t be the only team to get beaten here this year, for sure.

“I’m not trying to be a creep but I thought our fans were excellent. They stayed behind the team, which I really appreciate. I think they understand how difficult it is for us at some places.

“Brentford, on song, were a very difficult team to play against.”