Millwall close to announcing deal for 'outstanding' Premier...

According to reports, Millwall is almost ready to announce a deal to acquire a new custodian. With only a few weeks

to go, the Lions are already intensifying their preparations for the upcoming season.

The Lions have three friendlies left before the season begins, and they still need to make some progress in their

recruitment efforts. Despite the quiet start to the summer, Alex Neil and the club’s employees are now making a big

effort.

Massimo Luongo, who was released from Ipswich Town after a successful trial spell, is poised to join Millwall. They

are also nearing an agreement to recruit Fulham custodian Steven Benda on a season-long loan. At Craven Cottage,

the 26-year-old goalie has mostly served as a backup, sitting behind starting goalie Bernd Leno, since joining Fulham

from Swansea City in 2023.

In fact, Benda has never made a league appearance for Fulham, and he is now being granted the opportunity to go

out and get regular football less than a year before his contract is set to expire.

Benda’s trip to Millwall is reportedly almost complete, according to The Evening Standard, however other reports

indicate a medical examination was conducted on Thursday and Friday. After signing with Swansea City as a young

player and making his debut in 2022, Benda established himself there by making an impression under Russell

Martin.

Martin stated, “Steven Benda, I love what he’s done and how far he’s come and what he’s done since he’s come back

into the team,” following one sighting. “The saves were huge.” The first was amazing. Although he wasn’t particularly

active in the second half, his exceptional play with the ball in that half was just as impressive as his saves made

without it.

“He’s become really important and I’m just really proud of him and pleased for him. He has a brilliant mentality.

He’s getting better with every game and hopefully he can continue and he has Andy Fisher really supporting and

competing with him.”

What Neil has said of Millwall’s recruitment plans

Neil stated last Thursday, June 5, in an interview with Southwark News back in June: “I think we’re always looking

to strengthen at the first team level.” It’s not only a matter of depth of strength. In my opinion, there will be

opportunities in the market that arise, and there will be others that we would like to pursue but may not be

successful for a number of reasons, including financial constraints, moving to a different team, the possibility that

someone won’t want to move, logistical issues, etc.

However, it’s pretty obvious that we want to exit this window stronger than when we entered: that’s what we’ve

discussed internally. Jimmy wants to attempt to better us by investing in the team and the club, but it’s not that

simple. We aren’t playing Championship Manager, where you can simply go and say, “Sure, we’ll buy him and we’ll

send you that money.” Thank you very much. In reality, things don’t operate like that.

Therefore, a lot of effort is put forward behind the scenes Steve Gallen, who leads the recruitment team and is

clearly in charge of all that sort of stuff, is essentially always on the phone However, a lot of work is being done

behind the scenes, and we are optimistic that we will be well-prepared for the start of this season.