Millwall may regret Zian Flemming decision involving Burnley: View | OneFootball

Millwall's horrific form of late could well see the club regret a lot of moves made in the summer - but none more so than the decision to keep Zian Flemming at the club.

The Lions were one of the toughest teams to beat in the Championship last season, only missing out on the play-offs after totally collapsing at home to Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the season and allowing Sunderland to sneak into the top six to kill any hopes of a first stint in the Premier League.

With Zian Flemming being their key performer, Millwall fans will have been overjoyed to hold onto him in the summer - though that now looks as though it could have been a mistake from Lions chiefs.

Even though the Lions only missed out on a Championship play-off spot on the final day of last season, they had enough talent and form in their squad for fans to believe they would embark on another semi-successful campaign at the top of the Championship table this time around.

Flemming was a key reason for that.

The Dutchman, who moved to The Den back in the summer of 2022 from Eredivisie outfit Fortuna Sittard, lit up the Championship in his inaugural season in the second-tier with 15 goals and three assists in his debut season. Naturally, that attracted the interest of other clubs in and around the country - most notably last season's Championship title winners Burnley, who reportedly made a number of bids for his services.

Flemming wasn't allowed to join the Lancashire club, despite multiple advances. With Millwall hoping that they could go on and push for a chance in the Premier League, the Lions bosses did everything possible to keep their star asset and with the transfer window slamming with Flemming still on the books, fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.

But it just hasn’t worked out for the Amsterdam-born star this season. Despite a decent spell in October which saw him score four goals in eight games, he’s only scored once in the Championship since the end of October - including a run of 12 matches in total without a goal or assist.

That, you feel, has hade a massively negative impact on the Lions; and whilst it’s not just Flemming’s lack of output up front that has seen the club lose six of their last seven games, the fact they’ve only scored three in that time frame is indicative of a reason as to why they will be regretting not selling Flemming on in the summer in order to boost the squad all over the pitch in the same manner Coventry have done.

Zian Flemming Burnley transfer history

With the Clarets romping to the title last season, they made several bids for Flemming in the summer with a Premier League spot confirmed, and their high standing being a huge pull for many Championship players.

But according to South London Press, Millwall rejected no fewer than four offer from Burnley to prise the Dutchman away from London and into the Turf Moor ranks. And reports suggested that they were unwilling to meet Millwall’s £15 million valuation and thus a deal fell through before it began to take off.

Burnley instead pursued other targets and brought in Aaron Ramsey from Aston Villa following his top-notch loan spell at Middlesbrough last season, though he’s failed to pull up any trees at Turf Moor.