Rotherham United contract talks for Chiedozie Ogbene 'gone cold' but no bids for Millers star man yet

The Millers offered their star player a fresh long-term deal after exercising the option on his current contract, but Warne says any prospect of him signing that has gone “cold”.

But despite reported interest in the 25-year-old there has been no firm offer as the transfer window enters its final month.

Boss Warne told the Star: “If we ended up losing him for free but we had a whole year of him being unbelievable for us and we had the whole year to convince him to stay or we cash in on him now for a figure, as a manager why would I want to sell him.

“It doesn't help the team out if I sell him, I appreciate it helps the club out but the chairman wants to keep all the best players.

“It's a moot point at the moment because we haven't had a bid for Chieo. It's not like we're sat worrying about who has phoned today, we haven't turned any bid down, there has been no interest that I have been told of currently.

“I appreciate it could change in a heartbeat, but at the moment we have nothing to turn down.

“I think the player is going to go into the final year of his contract and see what happens. It is hard to persuade people otherwise when they have got something in their head that they would like to do.

“It is my job to get Chieo to perform on a weekly basis and that is my focus. What more can I do? I can't get him in a headlock. If he doesn't want to sign it, he won't sign it.”

Warne says if Ogbene is still at the club after the window shuts, he will look to resume contract talks.

“It has gone cold, we are not negotiating as we speak,” he said. “I think we obviously want to re-sign Chieo, that goes without saying.

“He knows that, we gave him a good verbal offer. We are going to revisit it when we have done all our business this window.

“Getting people to sign is not easy at the best of times, but in the middle of a transfer window with the season starting it is not at the top of my agenda.

“We have reached out to his representatives and hopefully it is something we can do, but at the moment we will revisit in late August or September.”