"£7m mark" - Transfer claim made on Millwall FC star Ra'ees Bangura-Williams | OneFootball

After the departure of Romain Esse, Millwall have found a new talent to play on the wing

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 fans have been excited by the emergence of Ra'ees Bangura-Williams, with hopes that the youngster will be the next big thing at the Den.

Lions fans are already looking for the successor to Romain Esse after the winger joined Premier League rivals Crystal Palace in the winter window, with Bangura-Williams hailed as another potential star.

However, it has been reported that Premier League clubs are already starting to look at the 20-year-old.

Rising talent Bangura-Williams has "high potential"

Bangura-Williams has been on the books at Millwall for just over a year, having joined the Lions from non-league London outfit Tooting & Mitcham United.

Having made his debut for Tooting at the age of 17, Bangura-Williams had been playing his football in the eighth and ninth tier of English football.

During his time with Tooting he went on many trials, failing to earn deals at Brentford and Middlesbrough, after spells at a very young age with Watford, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Norwich City.

Initially Bangura-Williams was rejected by Millwall following a trial, but in December 2023 he did enough to convince the Lions to take a chance on him.

Despite experience of the men’s game in non-league, Bangura-Williams had to wait until he turned 20 to make his professional debut.

After impressing for Millwall’s under-21 setup, he was handed a debut off the bench in the FA Cup against Dagenham & Redbridge, taking just 10 minutes to score his first goal for the Lions.

In the weeks since Bangura-Williams has been given more and more game time, making 11 appearances across all competitions and being handed multiple starts in the Championship.

That paved the way for Millwall to tie the youngster down to a new deal in January.

Although Bangura-Williams has caught the eye of Premier League clubs, FLW’s resident Millwall pundit Lucas Ball believes it is hard to put a proper value on the winger.

Lucas told FLW: “It’s a little bit of a tough one to gauge with Raess Bangura-Williams.

“He’s made so few appearances. He’s looked a good young player in those, he looks like someone with high potential. I think I’ve praised him countless times now.

“His eye for a pass, he gets stuck in even though it’s men’s football. He’s good on the ball, he’s got silky feet, so he looks a good prospect.

“I’m not surprised that clubs are monitoring him, whether that turns into any serious interest in the summer, is slightly doubtful. Just because of how new he is to the professional game.

“I think he needs another season with us at least, before anyone comes in with serious bids.”

Multi-million pound price tag claim made for Raess Bangura-Williams

Despite Bangura-Williams still being quite raw, Lucas said he would not be surprised if clubs were already contacting his agent to sound out a potential move.

As such, FLW’s Millwall pundit Lucas believes the club should be looking for a very healthy transfer fee if clubs came calling in the summer.

He continued: “That’s not to say there won’t be clubs monitoring and tracking him, getting in his agent’s ear, all that kind of thing.

“Obviously that happens very early on nowadays.

“Given the amount of football games he has played, you’re going to struggle to put a transfer fee on him.

“You’d probably want for him up towards that £7m mark, just based on how highly rated he is, and how much of a prospect he is seen as.

“It is quite a difficult one to justify enough, without putting too much pressure on him.”