Millwall respond as Hull City make Romain Esse transfer offer | OneFootball

Having landed versatile winger Adam Mayor from League Two side Morecambe, Millwall's transfer business for the January window looks like it is almost done.

The Lions also landed Tottenham defender Japhet Tanganga and Burnley striker Michael Obafemi earlier in the month on loan deals until the end of the season, and the addition of Mayor now gives the squad plenty of depth going into the final few months of the season.

However, Joe Edwards and director of football Alex Aldridge may have to fend off bids in the final 24 hours of the transfer window for one of Millwall's top young talents in the form of Romain Esse, who is attracting interest from elsewhere.

After initially being touted with a potential loan move away from The Den for the remainder of the campaign in order to get more game-time, Esse would then be linked with interest from both Premier League outfit Burnley and Millwall's Championship rivals Hull City, as reported by Football Insider.

Millwall turn down Hull City bid for Esse

And whilst Clarets boss Vincent Kompany has played down his own club's links to the 18-year-old winger, it appears that Hull are very much in the running for Esse.

Per journalist Pete O'Rourke, the Tigers have had an official offer turned down by Millwall for Esse's services, and it remains to be seen as to whether they will come back to the table with another bid.

Local reports in East Riding of Yorkshire have claimed that Hull are trying to land a winger ahead of Thursday's 11pm transfer deadline and that they are closing in on a deal for their target, but on latest evidence it does not seem as though Esse is or will be that man.

Esse, who has been capped by England at under-18 and under-19 level, emerged into the Millwall first-team in late 2022, appearing 12 times between Boxing Day of that year and the end of the 2022-23 season.

The teenager has played 15 times in the Championship for the South Bermondsey outfit in 2023-24 and he scored the club's first Championship goal of the campaign in a 1-0 win away at Middlesbrough in August.

He has struggled for game-time though under new head coach Joe Edwards, who has struggled to find a place for the youngster in his own starting 11 since arriving in November.

Quizzed on Esse's immediate Millwall future, Edwards insisted that he sees the teenager as part of his long-term vision at The Den and wants to keep him around in spite of interest from elsewhere.

“I gather there’s been some sort of interest which to me is totally understandable when you’re talking about a young England international playing at a Championship level and probably not getting the ideal amount of game time he would have liked in recent weeks and months, albeit he came on [against Preston] on Saturday and did well, the most amount of minutes he’s gotten for a while," Edwards told NewsAtDen.

“I gather why there would be speculation because that’s completely normal but from my point of view, there’s nothing I’ve had to make decisions on or give much thought of.

"As far as I’m concerned, Romain’s here training with us every day and he’s a player that certainly for the long-term I want to be part of [the team] and I want to keep working with.”