Millwall must seek £10m as Zian Flemming makes transfer stance clear: View | OneFootball

After falling at the last hurdle when trying to reach the play-offs last season, Millwall had aspirations of going one better and making the top six this time around.

However, the Lions’ season has not gone quite to plan. Gary Rowett left in October by mutual consent after being in charge for four years.

His replacement came in November in the form of Joe Edwards, who came with a good pedigree having previously been manager of England’s U20 side, whilst also working with Frank Lampard at Chelsea as his assistant.

Unfortunately, Edwards’ reign did not last very long - he completely changed the style of play from what Rowett used to play, and the players failed to adapt quickly enough, which in turn left Edwards jobless by February, having won just four of his 19 games at the helm.

This left the Lions in a relegation battle, but Neil Harris has come back in and managed to pull together a few results to keep them in the fight; they currently sit four points clear of the drop.

But Millwall’s drop has meant that some of their best players could look to leave - like Zian Flemming. But this doesn’t mean they should sell cheap.

Flemming has arguably been Millwall’s best player since his arrival

Flemming made the move to South East London in June 2022, joining for a reported club record fee of £1.7 million, from Fortuna Sittard in his homeland of the Netherlands.

The central attacking midfielder was highly rated in Holland, having scored 27 goals and got 11 assists in 63 games for Fortuna across all competitions.

Since his arrival, he has arguably been Millwall’s best player.

Last season, he scored 15 goals and provided three assists, with only Tom Bradshaw contributing to more goals.

This season, in a struggling Millwall side, he has been the main creator - he is the Lions’ current top scorer with seven goals, and he also has four assists, contributing to at least four more goals so far this campaign than any other Millwall player.

Millwall should look for a club record sale for Flemming

But with Flemming starring again in a poor team, interest will come in the summer - and Flemming seems aware of that.

Speaking in a recent interview with Dutch media outlet Soccer News, Flemming opened the possibility of a transfer, stating he wants to test himself at the highest level.

He said: “I want to play as high as possible, that won’t surprise anyone.

"Our common goal is to get promoted to the Premier League with Millwall. Unfortunately, we did not succeed last year and the same goes for this year.

"Plan B is then to make a move myself, but then the club must also get a nice transfer fee. Whether that will be this summer or later, I don’t dare say at this stage."

Flemming is right in saying the club should get a nice transfer fee, and the club should be looking for a record sale for his services.

Millwall’s current record fee received is £8 million when George Saville signed for Middlesbrough in 2018.

But Millwall should be looking for £10 million for Flemming, due to how important he is for the team.

Burnley were said to be interested in signing him last summer and had multiple bids rejected as they did not meet Millwall’s valuation at the time of £15 million.

So £10 million now seems a fair reflection of his value, with his value going down due to Millwall’s poor performance, but maintaining a strong value still due to how important he is to the Lions.

If Millwall are to lose their main creative attacking force in the summer, they cannot afford to let him go cheaply.