Leam Richardson's honest admission on future of Rotherham player after Ipswich, Middlesbrough, Norwich, and West Brom links | OneFootball

Rotherham United boss Leam Richardson has admitted that Wolves hold the power and can recall in-demand defender Dexter Lembikisa, who has been linked with Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town, Middlesbrough, Norwich City, and West Bromwich Albion.

The 20-year-old joined the Millers on a season-long loan deal in the summer and has been a regular fixture under former boss Matt Taylor and now Richardson - featuring 27 times in all competitions and playing more than 2,000 minutes of football.

But Lembikisa's short-term future has been called into question. A report from TEAMtalk in late December revealed that a host of Rotherham's Championship rivals were keen to take the defender on loan for the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.

It is said that Blackburn, Ipswich, Boro, Norwich and West Brom had all held talks over a potential January deal with Wolves, who are said to be open to recalling him and loaning him out to a team higher up the second tier table.

Wolves can call him back if they want to

Lembikisa held his own in a 1-0 defeat to Premier League side Fulham at Craven Cottage in the third round of the FA Cup on Friday evening.

Speaking to Football League World after the game, Richardson was unable to offer any assurances about the right-back's future and admitted that his parent club held all the power.

Quizzed on the Jamaica international's future, he said: "I prefer not to speak about individuals. He's a Wolves player, if they want to call him back, they'll call him back."

Richardson added that he was hopeful there would be positive news soon about incomings.

He said: "This time, this month, brings emotion for everyone. Every football club and every player. We're no different, we're working hard to try and add bodies and quality to the group that we've got because we do need that moving forward.

"We represent ourselves extremely well everytime we take the football pitch, no matter who the opposition is, but we're very aware we are low on numbers and we need quality adding to the group."

Losing Dexter Lembikisa would be a blow

Rotherham's focus needs to be on new additions rather than departures right now and Richardson will no doubt be hoping that Wolves don't call Lembikisa back to send him to another Championship club.

The youngster has been impressive for the Millers this term - starting 22 and missing just one of their 26 league games - and losing one of their more reliable defenders would be a blow for the side that has conceded the most goals in the second tier (50).

As the below FBRef table shows, while the Wolves loanee's attacking stats have been underwhelming, he's been a useful defensive asset.

He'll certainly have plenty of defending to do if he remains with the Millers but it may well be that his parent club would prefer him to head to a team where he'll get more opportunities to raid forward.

The return of Peter Kioso has bolstered their defensive options but losing Lembikisa would be far from ideal for Rotherham, who are rooted to the bottom of the table, seven points adrift of safety, and will need all the quality they can find if they're to escape relegation to League One.