Why £7million man George Saville was the ideal signing for Millwall

“That’s why we brought him in,” said Rowett “He scored six goals last season for Middlesbrough, scored 10 for Millwall the last time he was here.”

The Northern Ireland international showed his attacking ambitions inside the opening 10 minutes at Portman Road, in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Ipswich. He got on the end of a Danny McNamara cross with only a stunning save denying him his first goal since his return.

‘He’s a good footballer,” added the manager. “He’s got good composure, good energy. He’s a winner, he’s aggressive and he gets on the end of things in the box. You saw that with the chance – he might be a bit disappointed, but it’s a great ball in and it’s a fabulous save from the goalkeeper.

“That’s what we need. When you play 5-3-2, you have to get bodies past the two strikers. You can’t just allow the strikers to be the only ones up there. That’s something we’ve worked a lot on – those two attacking midfielders running past the strikers, our two wing-backs getting high up the pitch and into the box.”

Millwall’s pre season has been impacted by Covid-19 with a few cases of the virus and other players including Saville having to isolate, leading to Rowett being even more impressed with his new arrival.

“I’ve been really pleased with Sav,” added the manager. “He’s one whose been off for 10 days so he hasn’t been able to do an awful lot. He will be better for those minutes as will the others who have missed time during pre-season. We were due to play them 45 minutes, but, I thought it was better to gamble and give them 60-65 minutes and that will help us this week.”