“We know the positions we want to strengthen” – Lions boss Gary Rowett on January transfer window

Millwall manager Gary Rowett knows the positions he wants to strengthen in the January transfer window.

The Lions are 17th in the Championship table and winless in 10 matches after a 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Rowett, speaking to the South London Press before the trip to Teesside, said: “We know what we want. We know what type of player we want and we know the exact positions we want. It’s then a case of can we get them? Simple as that.

“I don’t think there will be many deals lined up and that are done at this stage. I think it’s a case of you then need to enter into negotiations and see what happens.

“It’s always the same when there are all the big teams in the division who can pay more money – we want good players and sometimes you have to miss out or try and shoot a little bit higher than you’re always going to get.

“That will be the challenge. That will always be our challenge. But we’ll line up some very good players and hopefully get a few over the line. Like most teams I don’t think the expectation is to go out and spend absolute fortunes. I don’t think that is the situation.

“We need two or three good quality players in areas that are going to be really crucial to our season.

“If you look at Ken [Zohore] in terms of the type of profile and player he is, you can see how important he would be to us at this moment in time. But he’s not been available to us, so we’ve got to crack on and then see in January if we can strengthen. I know that historically the club has always had some poor first half a seasons and always been stronger second half. We’re certainly expecting that to be the case this year and January is going to play a huge part in that.”