Millwall could hold the key to Stockport County's push towards the Championship | OneFootball

Stockport County may view a striker as the final piece of the puzzle to get them to the Championship

Stockport County will be doing all they can this summer to strengthen their squad for a sterner push for promotion next term.

Having missed out on automatic promotion by just five points to Wrexham, before bowing out in the semi-final of the play-offs against Leyton Orient, the Hatters are left with work to do to climb into the second tier.

A noticeable difference between Challinor’s side and the rest of the surrounding competitors was the lack of a talismanic goalscorer in the mould of Sam Smith, Charlie Kelman or Matty Godden.

It may be an area the Hatters want to address this summer, and in forgotten striker Macaulay Langstaff, Millwall may hold the answer.

Macaulay Langstaff’s Millwall move has not gone to plan

Langstaff obliterated the lower English leagues in spells with Gateshead and Notts County, notching scarcely believable numbers of goals and assists.

It was that form that earned him the jump from League Two with the Magpies straight to the Championship with Millwall, in a move that reportedly set the Lions back an initial £700k fee.

But it hasn’t quite gone how Millwall or Langstaff would have planned.

He started just 14 Championship games in the 2024/25 season, netting one goal and providing two assists, slipping behind the likes of Mihailo Ivanovic in the pecking order.

Given the Serbian’s youth compared to Langstaff, and the hefty £2.8m fee splashed on the 20-year-old, it already feels like the time has come for the former Notts County man to seek a new challenge.

Langstaff and County could offer each other a lot

That is where Stockport come in, with their previously mentioned need for a talisman in the frontline.

Despite a quiet season, Langstaff has already shown what he’s capable of in the Football League.

In League Two with the Magpies, he provided 28 goals and four assists, two a side that, in the end, finished in mid-table.

Even that seemed somewhat muted at the time, given he posted 41 goals and seven assists in the National League the season before.

In short, Langstaff knows where the net is, and he won’t have magically forgotten that skill in his year on the periphery at the Den.

Championship clubs may not be falling over themselves to land his signature, given his lack of impact, meaning the Hatters, one of the third tier’s best sides based on the season just gone, should be in prime position to muscle into the race.

For Millwall, they likely also wouldn’t be against recouping some of the fee they splashed on Langstaff last summer.

Stockport have a positive history with Millwall forwards

A move for Langstaff wouldn’t be the first time in recent history that the Hatters have turned to the Lions for a forward.

In the January 2023 window, County landed the services of Tanto Olaofe from Millwall for an undisclosed fee, after he had also struggled to make an impact at the Den.

His first few months under Challinor were quiet, but he burst into life in his first full season in 2023/24, notching 20 goals in League Two on course to the Hatters’ title win.

With Langstaff attracting questions about his future at the Den, County fans may wonder whether he could follow those same footsteps and make a similar impact.