Strikers who score goals regularly come at a premium. Danny Ward of Rotherham is one of those strikers. His premium is £5m and according to manager Paul Warne it is that or nothing.
Rotherham are rock-bottom of the Sky Bet Championship with just 16 points from their 26 games. They are nine points adrift of 21st place and breathing space from the bottom three. If you take into account that they have a -17 goal difference over their closest, worst-performing rivals then the gap becomes essentially ten points.
Leading the goal scoring charts at the New York Stadium is Danny Ward whose time in football started on the Youth books at Leeds United in 2005. Ward came to Rotherham from Huddersfield Town mid-January 2015 and has scored 17 goals and provided 14 assists for the Millers.
According to The Star, Ward’s manager Warne “has placed a £5 million price” on the 25-year-old striker’s head as clubs queue up for him. Already The Star say that three bids have been turned down for his services by the club. Warne commented on this saying: “I am aware that three clubs have put proper bids in and I’m aware that all three have been turned down.”
As well as saying that he’d turn down a £2 million bid from any side for Ward, manager Warne said that he’d spoken directly to Ward about his valuation of him. The Millers’ manager said that: “I said to his face: ‘If you can leave my office and come back with anyone under £5m who you think is better than you, please do and I’ll sell you for the same figure,” before adding that, “as of yet, he hasn’t been back to me.”
A list of clubs are seen as admirers of Ward including old club Huddersfield Town, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and others including Derby County.
Rotherham face a big ask on Saturday in a bottom-vs-top match-up as the South Yorkshire side travel to league leaders Newcastle United.
