Potential transfer barrier emerges in Millwall’s quest to sign Burnley player
McNally is a target – but a lack of funds could mean they miss out in this race.
Millwall may struggle to raise the funds needed to secure the permanent signing of Burnley centre-back Luke McNally, according to yesterday’s report from Alan Nixon.
The Lions are hoping to take the defender to The Den on a temporary basis, having utilised the loan market to bring in central defenders during the previous two summers.
Signing Daniel Ballard from Arsenal in 2021, they then used the loan market again last summer to bring in Charlie Cresswell from Leeds United. Although Cresswell endured some iffy periods in the English capital, both loans could definitely be classed as a success.
And they would almost be guaranteed success again if they brought in McNally, who shone on loan at Coventry City last term.
Who else is in the race for Luke McNally?
As mentioned, McNally was at Coventry during the second half of last season and managed to do extremely well during his time in the Midlands.
He even guided Mark Robins’ men to the Championship play-off final and played a big role, with only a penalty shootout proving to be the difference between them and winners Luton Town at Wembley.
Although the Sky Blues didn’t secure promotion, his loan spell at the Coventry Building Society Arena would have been an exceptionally valuable one and the play-off final losers are keen to bring him back again.
What advantage could Coventry City have over Millwall in the Luke McNally race?
The Sky Blues may have spent a sizeable fee on Ellis Simms, but they are set to sell Viktor Gyokeres for a considerable amount with the Sweden international reportedly set to move to Sporting Libson for £20.5m.
Spending less than half of that on Simms, Doug King may allow Robins to spend quite a bit more in the transfer market and with that, a permanent move for McNally may be on the cards.
They are in desperate need of bringing in some centre-backs with Michael Rose moving on and McNally, Jonathan Panzo and Callum Doyle returning to their respective parent clubs.
With this, they are keen to push ahead of the Lions in the race for McNally.
Should Millwall try and sign Luke McNally permanently?
Already spending a fee on Kevin Nisbet and forking out on fees for other players in recent transfer windows, you could understand it if the Lions want to cut back their spending and utilise the loan market quite heavily for the remainder of the window.
Although they had quite a few loanees last season, not too many players have left the club this summer, so using the loan market to fill existing gaps probably wouldn’t be the worst idea and with those loanees likely to be keen to play as much as possible, that could create healthy competition in the squad.
A loan move for McNally wouldn’t be a bad thing, but if they are going to negotiate a swap deal that sees Zian Flemming go the other way, they should be looking to sign the defender permanently because he’s only young and has plenty of time to improve.
Already showing that he can be an asset at this level, signing him for the long term would be a no-brainer if the finances are there to do it, although you feel a swap deal or a big sale will be needed if this is to happen.
If they can’t afford to bring him in permanently, they shouldn’t look to push the boundaries and potentially risk breaching financial rules, because their stability off the pitch has been key to their respectable finishes in recent seasons and they will want to retain that stability.
