With Premier League outfit Crystal Palace reportedly in talks to complete another signing straight out of the Dougie Freedman playbook, it hasn’t taken the other club in this story long to react.
And Oliver Glasner’s Eagles, Steve Gallen says, can forget about taking another of the Championship’s rising stars out of the EFL in the middle of the season.
Crystal Palace, thanks largely to the sterling work of club legend Freedman, have enjoyed considerable success when it comes to raiding the second tier. Ebere Eze, Michael Olise and Adam Wharton arrived from Queens Park Rangers, Reading and Blackburn Rovers respectively.
And while Marc Guehi joined from Chelsea, it was a loan spell at Swansea City which really put the England international on the map.
Palace have since sold Olise to Bayern Munich, while rejecting bids in excess of £60 million from Newcastle for captain Guehi. TBR understands that Adam Wharton is a Manchester City target, though he is keen to stay for the time being.
Now, according to The Standard, Crystal Palace want Romain Esse to follow in those footsteps. Talks are reportedly underway regarding a deal that could see Esse join in January before spending the remainder of 2024/25 on loan at The Den.
With Millwall very much in the promotion picture, the chance to retain Esse’s services until the summer is one that would hold plenty of appeal.
But Gallen, The Lions’ very own director of football, insists that there are currently no plans to agree any sort of deal for their 19-year-old sensation.
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Millwall insist no plans to let Crystal Palace take Romain Esse
“We don’t want to sell anybody in January,” Gallen tells Millwall TV. “There’s nobody in the football club saying we need to make a sale.
“We want to keep our good players, but we also realise if they are doing well that there was a lot of interest after the Leeds and Burnley games [Millwall won both 1-0] in our players. It’s great. I get a scouting list sent to me after every game. I’m tracking who is coming to watch us.
“I want the stand full of European clubs and Premier League clubs coming to watch our players. There are quite a few coming and that is good for our football club.
“We realise eventually we will sell one or two players and then replace them with one or two to try and make us sustainable. But we also want to win football matches and be up around the top of the league.”
Esse, one of the first names on Neil Harris’ team sheet, is Millwall’s second highest goalscorer behind Duncan Watmore.
As a natural left-footer who likes to cut in from the right, comparisons will obviously be drawn between Esse and Olise; the £50 million assist-machine who’s boundless creativity is so badly missed at Selhurst Park.
Carlton Palmer, the former Leeds, Southampton and England midfielder, is not quite buying the notion that Millwall are not for turning. He feels that, if Crystal Palace were to slap around £20 million on the table, that would be an offer impossible to refuse.
“We know the way that Crystal Palace work, signing young players, developing them and moving them on for big money,” Palmer explains Football League World.
“[Some have claimed Esse will cost] in the region of £15 to 20 million. And, if that type of money is put on the table, I can’t see Millwall not agreeing.
“Any deal will be done with the player remaining at Millwall until the end of the season [and] £20m to Millwall is an awful lot of money.”
Romain Esse has a few similarities with Michael Olise
Crystal Palace have often utilised Ismaila Sarr in the place Olise used to call his own.
However, with Sarr a very different sort of player – more direct and reliant upon the speed in his legs rather than the speed in his mind – perhaps Esse could fit that role a little better in Glasner’s front three.
“[Esse has] good balance. His technical ability was very good, and you could see there was development in his physical attributes as well,” Kevin Nugent, Millwall’s youth coach, tells News at Den, having described Esse as a ‘huge talent’.
“He played quite often for us as a [number] ten or he would play in midfield. What he did well, and what he’s continuing to do now that he’s in the first-team, is improving the tactical and possession side of his game, as well as the out-of-possession work.
“That is of the utmost importance, and he’s really adding that knowledge to his game.”