Rotherham United chief Paul Warne sets out transfer priorities

PAUL WARNE admits that Rotherham United's current league position is complicating his summer transfer planning.
Paul Warne: Has his targets.Paul Warne: Has his targets.
Paul Warne: Has his targets.

Warne and the club’s recruitment staff have compiled a list of targets, but success on several fronts could hinge on whether the fourth-placed Millers – comfortably ensconced in the play-off places – return to the Championship for the 2017-18 season or stay in League One.

Warne said: “Not knowing what division we are going to be in next season does complicate things quite a bit.

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“There are positions where we need to strengthen. Our budget will obviously be different if we go up a league.

“I am not saying my targets will be different. But say I am going for two centre-forwards, one might really want Championship football. I cannot offer him that until I know what is happening.

“It is not that I have got two different sheets. I have not. I have just got targets who I want.

“Maybe there will be a player who wants Championship football, but still wants to come even if we do not go up. If that is the case, then great.”

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One thing Warne is categorical about is that the Millers will target ‘young and hungry’ players whatever division they reside in at the start of August.

He added: “I do not have a Harrods shopping list and a Sainsbury’s one. It is all on one list.

“If we are fortunate enough to go up and there is more money and it enables me to go for someone else, then so be it.

“But if we went up, then I would still go for a similar type of player. There is no point me signing a 32-year-old who has had his day.

“We will do what we have tried to do this season really: sign young, hungry people.

“By going up a league, we might be able to get young, hungry people with a bit more quality.”