Millwall head coach Joe Edwards on Burnley and Hull linked Romain Esse: I want to keep working with him

Millwall head coach Joe Edwards does not want to lose Romain Esse – after the young attacking prospect was linked with Burnley and Hull City.

The England U19 international has made 17 appearances in all competitions for the Lions this season but has only played more than 45 minutes in the league once in this campaign – the 3-1 defeat at Norwich in August.

Esse replaced Ryan Longman at the interval in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Preston North End.

Lewisham-born Esse made 13 appearances last season, all of them as a substitute.

The Lions announced that the teenager has signed a “long-term” contract in January.

In the last 12 league matches Esse has been an unused sub for eight of them as well as not featuring in the matchday squad for the home fixture against Huddersfield Town.

Edwards told the South London Press: “I gather there has been a bit of an interest around him, which is totally understandable but, from my point of view, there is nothing of any real substance there that is making me feel like I need to make any kind of decisions in the next couple of days.

“In terms of leaving the club, I certainly don’t want him to – I want him to be a part of what we’re doing in the future here.

“He came on at the weekend and got the most minutes he has got for a while. He did some decent stuff in the second half. I’m looking forward to hopefully keep working with him in the future.

“He is a young player who is a talented boy – in the England set up – and he had a promising start to the season, I know he had a really good pre-season and featured in the team at the start, scoring in the first game. It has cooled off for him a little bit and he’s not had loads of game time.”

Esse scored in the opening day victory at Middlesbrough, his only goal contribution of the season.

“I think with players it goes up and down – particularly at a young age,” said Edwards. “They have spells where they seem to accelerate and kick on in a short space of time and then it can cool off a bit, like it did with Romain. There are loads of factors around that – game time being a big part of it.

“I have a big responsibility in that as well. To be fair to Romain – his age and the type of player he is – I said in the November and December period that at times we weren’t an easy team to step in as play for, as a young kid, because we had some tough fixtures in December, going to places and really grinding and riding out results.

“That is something that sometimes it does require that little bit more experience or we were a bit more defensive in certain games. That plays its part.

“Romain will be a player who wants to put in good numbers in terms of goals and assists. From day one he started with one and then hasn’t had one since – it is an area we will work on with him. But it is the story of the whole team. I was looking the other day and I think since I’ve been here we’ve had a two-goal cushion once – at Sheffield Wednesday – and then in the QPR home game for a few minutes. It has been an issue for us as a team that we’ve not been doing enough at the top end of the pitch to put games to bed or give ourselves more comfort in them.

“We’ve been more of a pragmatic team that grinds out results. Over the last seven or eight games you’ve started to see a shift in how we’re playing football. I was confident putting Rom on at half-time on Saturday. He has shown glimpses of what he is capable of.

“I certainly don’t want to lose Rom on a permanent basis. He is a player that I see as part of our future and that I want to work with.”

The question is whether Esse could benefit from a loan for the second half of the campaign.

“I’ve had this with all the young players I’ve worked with – it is very case by case and assessing each one as it comes in,” said Edwards. “As much as that can sound reactive rather than strategic it has got to really work for Rom first and foremost – and us.

“I wouldn’t sit here now with the idea that whatever we do in the next two days, we need to get Rom out on loan.

“But, having said that, if something came about and you looked at the club, the level they were playing at, style of play – their intention and commitment to give Rom real substantial game time – if all those things fell into place it isn’t something I’d completely rule out now.

“But I would stress it would have to be that – not just a case of ‘get him out for the experience’. It’s got to tick a lot of boxes because he is a player whose development pathway is important. We’d only be giving him to someone else if we felt they would be fulfilling that.”