What Rotherham United boss Paul Warne said about the search for a 'real goalscorer'

Rotherham boss Paul Warne is searching for a “bit of class” as he closes in on a new striker.
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The Millers are hoping to land a loan target from a Premier League club this week as they try and boost their attacking options.

Warne currently has Freddie Ladapo, Michael Smith, Kyle Vassell and Jamie Proctor in his ranks, but feels like he needs a bit of extra quality to help his side thrive in the Championship.

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They won their opening game of the season at Wycombe on Saturday, though needed an injury-time header from defender Michael Ihiekwe to get the job done.

Rotherham United boss Paul Warne is searching for a “bit of class” as he closes in on a new striker. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)Rotherham United boss Paul Warne is searching for a “bit of class” as he closes in on a new striker. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)
Rotherham United boss Paul Warne is searching for a “bit of class” as he closes in on a new striker. (Photo by James Chance/Getty Images)

"I'm really hopeful that I will have another striker in this week," said Warne.

"In this league, you can be good box to box - which we were the last time we were in the Championship - but sometimes you need someone to do a bit of brilliance inside the area and get you a win.

"That's why the strikers earn the big money: they change games with bits of class. We do need more competition up top, a real goalscorer.

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“At this moment, the striker is the only thing I can see happening. If it doesn't happen, we still have a few more weeks of the window left."

Even if the Millers had Harry Kane or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in their starting XI at Wycombe, it might not have made too much difference.

It was a horrible game at Adams Park, which was spent with 55 minutes of the 90 with the ball out of play.

That made set-pieces very important and Ihiekwe seized his moment at the death.

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“It's massive, it changed everything, the context of the game,” he said.

“Going into it we always knew it would be a scrappy game and set-pieces would be massive and that showed at the end.

“That was one of two corners we had, when you are getting loads of corners sometimes you take it for granted, when you get a couple late on you know it's business time and you are going to win the game if that goes in.

“So it was just setting up right and the ball in was brilliant, it just had a message on to go and attack it and that's what I tried to do and lucky enough it went in.”

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