Millwall boss Gary Rowett has played down Tyler Burey’s links to West Ham.
It emerged earlier this week that West Ham boss David Moyes had recently taken a look at Millwall’s young forward Burey.
The Hammers boss was in attendance at Millwall’s 2-1 home win against Hull City earlier this month. He was taking a closer look at Hull’s Keane Lewis-Potter but reports from HullLive revealed that Moyes was also there to watch over Burey.
Burey, 20, started the game and played 78 minutes before being brought off. He’s now featured 14 times in the Championship this season, scoring twice and becoming a regular in Rowett’s starting XI.
And speaking to South London Press about the reports, Rowett had this to say:
“They are all just stories at this stage of the season. Five per cent of the transfer speculation has some truth and the other 95 per cent is just to stoke it up by different outlets and different people. Everyone wants a story.
“Tyler Burey got in our team and was scoring goals, I imagine most Premier League clubs would watch him at some point, just like they would with Zak [Lovelace] or Billy Mitchell. Most Premier League clubs would come and watch Billy.
“But coming to watch someone and putting an offer in to sign them are two very different things. I don’t really treat it particularly seriously.”
West Ham have been linked with a number of Championship players throughout this season. Burey is certainly a prospect but he’s still relatively unproven at Millwall, who currently occupy 9th in the Championship table.
Rowett will have his sights firmly set on securing a top-six spot before the end of the season, with a three point gap to make up to Sheffield United in the final two games of the season.
Thoughts?
Like Rowett says, it wouldn’t be a surprise if West Ham were taking a brief look at Burey during the Hull game, or any of Millwall’s other talented youngsters.
Rowett has done a fine job during his three years at the club, not only in securing comfortable Championship finishes and challenging for top-six but also in bringing about a new breed of youngsters at the club, and Rowett will surely be keen to keep the likes Burey on board and start building the squad around them.
Up next for the Lions is a must-win home game v Peterborough United this weekend.
