“We’ve been lucky to have him” – Millwall FC star tipped to seal summer transfer exit | OneFootball

Football League World’s Millwall fan pundit believes Japhet Tanganga is the likeliest player to leave the Den this summer.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Millwall will be hoping to make a late charge for the play-offs during the last 10 games of the regular season.

The Lions find themselves 13th in the Championship table, with the East London outfit safely away from relegation danger, but a fair distance away from a top six place too.

A consistent run of form for Alex Neil’s men will have to come to the surface in order to have a shot at reaching the Premier League, but in the event it doesn’t happen, then the Lions should be certain of consolidating their place in the Championship for an eighth successive campaign.

One player who has been so influential to Millwall in avoiding any relegation anxiety is central defender Japhet Tanganga, who has displayed his Premier League level of talent in the second tier after being able to keep himself injury-free.

Showcasing why he was once on the books at Tottenham, much discussion has surrounded the club about Tanganga’s future, with reports claiming Wolves and Sheffield United were looking to sign the defender during the January transfer window.

With this in mind, Football League World’s Millwall fan pundit has shared their thoughts on Tanganga’s situation, and how he sees the 25-year-old’s future unfolding.

Millwall tipped to suffer Japhet Tanganga exit this summer

FLW's Millwall fan pundit Lucas Ball believes Japhet Tanganga will make the step-up back to the Premier League after such a successful season at the Den, and fears about how the side will cope with his eventual absence.

Ball said: “Japhet Tanganga is definitely the player who feels most destined to leave this summer. He’s certainly a player who will be massively missed as he’s a huge part of our backline.

“We’re a much worse side when he’s not in the team. He improves players around him, and he’s a Rolls-Royce of a defender at this level, decent on the ball, good in the air, doesn’t lose many battles and has popped up with the odd goal.

“He drives up the standard of the team significantly, and he will be a big miss as he’s destined to head back to the Premier League.

“It’ll be interesting to see how we try and replace him, but we’ve been lucky to have him as long as we have done. We managed to rebuff interest in January and convinced him to join permanently even though other clubs were circling, which was brilliant at the time.

“It’s a good point for the club that players with that experience at the top level want to join Millwall and want to stick around for a spell, but we’ll certainly miss Japhet.”

Japhet Tanganga transfer exit would be a blow to Millwall

There’s no doubt that losing someone of Japhet Tanganga’s quality would deeply hurt Millwall, and they will have a mammoth task on their hands to find a suitable replacement this summer if he does indeed depart.

Solidifying the backline together with his leadership, physicality and natural ability to read the game ahead of others, Millwall have been very fortunate to have a player of the ilk of Tanganga, who is sure to achieve a lot at the top of the game if he continues such a magnificent vein of form.

One positive for Millwall is they should receive a sizeable fee for his services, which gives the club a chance to reinvest the money in another defender that can help make the Tanganga exit seem like a distant memory.

Recruitment will be important to make sure Millwall remain a resolute outfit heading into next season, and there will be anxiety at this present time over whether the club can replace such a significant exit.