‘He can unlock the door’ – Millwall boss on deadline swoop for Sheffield United’s Luke Freeman

Gary Rowett has backed new signing Luke Freeman to help Millwall boost their creative output during the second half of the season.

The Lions beat the deadline to seal a last-gasp loan deal for the Sheffield United midfielder, who will spend the rest of the campaign in SE16.

Freeman is an established Championship performer who has racked up more than 150 appearances in the second tier during his career.

And Rowett believes he can be the difference in games like Tuesday night’s stalemate with Preston – although he did stress that it will take time for Freeman to get up to speed.

“Hopefully a lot because he’s a good player,” said Rowett. “He’s a Championship player. It’s been a really tough window, we’ve tried to change our approach in terms of the way we do things and sometimes it’s very difficult to get those players in.

“I think Luke is a Championship player that’s proven over the years. He’s another player that’s had a lack of game time recently. So a little bit like [Oliver] Burkey and Mason [Bennett] today, Luke will need a little bit of time to get up to speed. Jed [Wallace] looked like that today. We hoped he might give us that little bit of an extra spark but he’s been out for seven or eight weeks and had a sort of really difficult period.

“I think we’ll get better and our attacking options will get stronger. I think our squad will have a little bit more depth to it.

“But certainly someone like Luke in a game like that, you’re looking for someone to do something that little bit different to unlock the door.”