Rotherham United: Semi Ajayi appears to be heading towards Millers' exit door after West Brom bid is accepted

Semi Ajayi appears to be heading towards the exit door at Rotherham United after they accepted a bid from West Brom.
West Bromwich Albion are on the verge of signing Rotherham's Semi AjayiWest Bromwich Albion are on the verge of signing Rotherham's Semi Ajayi
West Bromwich Albion are on the verge of signing Rotherham's Semi Ajayi

The 25-year-old has attracted the interest of the Baggies this week and have a fee has now been agreed, reported to be £1.5million, rising to above £2million with add-ons.

If the sale goes through, it will represent an impressive piece of business for the Millers, who signed Ajayi on a free transfer in 2017.

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Warne will hope that he will get his hands on some of the proceeds of the sale to rebuild his squad.

Ajayi did not feature in Wednesday's pre-season friendly against Bradford Park Avenue, amid reports of the Baggies interest, though at that time no fee had been agreed.

The Championship club, who have also spent £8million today on Cardiff striker Kenneth Zohore, came back with a bigger offer and the former Arsenal trainee was due for a medical at the Hawthorns on Friday.

Barring any hitches, Ajayi will enjoy a quickfire return to the AESSEAL New York Stadium as West Brom are due to play the Millers in a pre-season friendly on Tuesday night.

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Ajayi follows midfielder Will Vaulks out of the door, following the midfielder's sale earlier in the summer.

Vaulks was sold to Cardiff for a fee that could rise to £3million and the Millers are developing a clever model of signing players cheaply and selling them on at a massive profit.

Both Vaulks and Ajayi were turned into international players during their time in South Yorkshire, Vaulks getting a call to Wales and Ajayi representing Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Warne has described Kyle Vassell as the “standout” player of Rotherham's pre-season so far.

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Vassell bagged a first-half hat-trick in the 5-1 win over Bradford Park Avenue on Wednesday, adding to the goal he scored against FC Madgeburg last weekend.

The former Blackpool man suffered a disappointing second half of last season, with injury ruining a fine start to his Millers career which had seen him win a maiden international call-up for Northern Ireland.

The 26-year-old, who was used predominantly as a wide man last term, prefers to play as a striker and has seen Freddie Ladapo and Carlton Morris come in this summer, adding to the fit-again Jamie Proctor and first-choice Michael Smith in the ranks.

But he is using his opportunity to show Warne that he should be in contention for a striking role and the boss has been impressed.

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“He has been excellent, he has been one of the standout players of pre-season, for sure,” Warne said. “He has been excellent in training, when we had the games in Germany he was my first pick which is hugely impressive.”