Evans explains his reasons for listing duo as interest grows

The Millers last week circulated the names of the duo, who have a year left on their deals at the New York Stadium.

Former England Under-21 goalkeeper Loach was expected to challenge Adam Collin for the No 1 jersey when he arrived.

But in a campaign hit by injury and form issues, Loach – drafted into the senior England squad as cover in the autumn of 2010 – made just two starts and had loan spells at Bury and Yeovil.

Ex-Newcastle midfield man Newton, 23, made six starts and 14 appearances in total for the Millers, after spending the 2013-14 campaign on loan at St Mirren.

Evans said: “It’s a disappointing one, but we have had some clubs in League One and in League Two show interest.

“It’s not worked out for Loachy, who we signed with all the best intentions.

“Adam has seen him away and then when Adam had a little dip in form, we brought Emi (Martinez) in and we weighed up our options.

“We had set a benchmark and we felt with Loachy that he is a young man that wants to play and we just felt he wasn’t going to be No 1 and he would be sat watching a lot of the time.

“He asked if he could explore his options and we said yes.”

On Newton, Evans added: “He is another who wants to play football and that was in our thinking.

“In recent months, he was knocking on our door asking why he wasn’t playing.

“But if we are going to improve we have to ask where are we going to put him in our team when we have got the boys who have played in the last five games.

“Is he is going to be in front of them? No.”