Rotherham beat off rivals to recruit Bolton striker Eaves

The 21-year-old Liverpudlian has been training with the Rotherham squad on Thursday and yesterday and the paperwork on his short-team move to the New York Stadium was set to be finalised last night after the two clubs agreed the deal.

Eaves – who came through the the ranks at Crewe before moving to Oldham – enjoyed loan periods at Bristol Rovers (7 goals in 15 appearances) and Shrewsbury Town (6 goals in 10 appearances) last season, averaging roughly a goal every two games.

Evans said: “Tom will train with us for a couple of days and subject to no last minute hitches, I would expect the formal documentation to be completed allowing the lad to be in the squad for the match at Walsall on Saturday.

“He is a striker who will compliment what we have, he is big, strong, quick and scores a goal. A number of clubs have asked about signing the lad so I am grateful to Bolton Wanderers manager Dougie Freedman for his personal input and support that will see Tom become a Miller.”

Evans said the Millers faced competition from three other League One sides to secure Eaves arrival, and the 6ft 4ins striker would provide competition alongside Alex Revell.

“To be honest, we were worried if something should happen to Alex Revell and I’m not sure we can expect him to play 50-odd games and 90 minutes in them all,” said Evans

“He’s been fantastic this season and we know how valuable he is but we lacked someone who could play that role and they are so hard to find. We think we’ve found one.

“But we have not brought him here simply as understudy, we like him because he can also play with ‘Revs’ as well.”

The Millers are fourth in the table level with Walsall.