Matt Taylor on Rotherham United's unique selling point with Premier League and top-end Championship clubs - and the difficulties

It would make success - which means retaining their place in one of the most competitive divisions in world football come next May - even more satisfying. It remains an achievement well within their capabilities. Never write off Rotherham.

Matt Taylor and his recruitment team are making inroads, slowly but surely, in the transfer market. Loanees Dexter Lembikisa and Fred Onyedinma arrived last week to boost the Millers’ numbers following the earlier permanent arrivals of Cafu, Grant Hall and Dillon Phillips and the intention is that more signings will come.

Elsewhere, several clubs - and not just those expected to push for promotion but those who were in the same vicinity in the league table in 2022-23 - have been wafting the cheque books, either in terms of transfer fees or paying big wages.

Recently taken over, Birmingham City have brought in the likes of Krystian Bielik, Tyler Roberts, Siriki Dembele and Dion Sanderson. Aaron Ramsey is the head-turning new recruit at Cardiff City. Newly-promoted Plymouth Argyle, meanwhile, have broken their transfer record to bring in Morgan Whittaker for around £1m.

Alongside Plymouth, two big clubs in Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town, whose resources outstrip those of the Millers, have been promoted.

The Millers must do it their way as always - and will.

Surveying the Championship landscape, manager Taylor told The Yorkshire Post: "Some clubs are spending huge amounts. Then, it becomes an unfair and unrealistic market.

"Some of our competitors who finished in and around us last season are not just blowing us out of the water, but the league, in terms of what they can spend. It means it's an interesting market to see and observe from afar at times.

"Our market is very much individual to us at Championship level. We still want to do some good business and I believe we can."

If the Millers have a unique selling point, it is that Premier League loanees in the late teens or early twenties who need second-tier experience, as opposed to time in the lower-leagues, will be given regular game time.

They will also be looked after at Rotherham, although money still talks.

The club made a strong pitch to land a teenage right-sided defender in Lembikisa, who has represented Wolves' first team on a handful of occasions and featured at senior international level for Jamaica.

They also are building relationships with other top-tier clubs and those at the top end of the Championship whose aims are different to theirs.

Lembikisa and Onyedinma came into the building with just over a week of pre-season to go. As clubs finalise their squads and decide which squad players they are willing to let go, more avenues of opportunity will hopefully arrive for Rotherham.

Taylor, set to complete the signing of former Owls and Aston Villa winger Andre Green shortly, commented: "Especially with the Premier League clubs, they are behind everyone else in pre-season because they start a week later.

"They have been away or are or still away. Always at the start with so many games, they need to fulfil those fixtures with under-23s and 21s players. I am pretty sure more will come available in the next few weeks. You develop as many links as you possibly can and offer opportunities - which maybe other Championship clubs can't because they have bigger and stronger squads - for young players, especially on loan.

"But then it seems to still come down to finance an awful lot. That's where, unfortunately, we are not in the same conversations as some clubs at the level.

"But we do expect some of those loans to come to fruition because we do hope that some first-team managers at Premier League and top Championship level see us as an opportunity to get young players on the pitch at Championship level which is an incredible experience for them.

"You saw Middlesbrough's second string (in the recent friendly against Rotherham) and some good young players against what we have got in terms of youngsters coming through.

"Our young ones are nowhere near that level, so we have to look elsewhere. We do hope some will drop in the next few weeks."

Goals from Ollie Rathbone, Cafu and Jordan Hugill saw the Millers - who handed debuts to Onyedinma and Lembikisa - ease to a 3-0 friendly win at Lincoln City on Saturday.

Action elsewhere saw Premier League newcomers Sheffield United see off Derby County 3-1, thanks to goals from Anis Slimane, George Baldock and Iliman Ndiaye.

Wednesday went down 2-1 at home to Luton in Xisco Munoz's first home match at Hillsborough - Michael Smith having put them ahead from the penalty spot.

A fine team goal finished by Kyle Hudlin enable Huddersfield Town to beat Dutch side Hereenveen 1-0 to complete an unbeaten pre-season for the Terriers, while late goals from Hayden Hackney and Morgan Rogers earned Middlesbrough a 2-2 draw with Auxerre.

Hull City, another side unbeaten in pre-season, also drew against French opponents in a 1-1 draw with Nantes. Ozan Tufan found the net for City.

Goals from James Norwood and Kacper Lopata saw Barnsley beat Crewe 2-1, while Doncaster Rovers beat Port Vale 1-0, courtesy of a goal from George Broadbent.

Bradford City went down 1-0 at Rochdale.