Neil Harris has highlighted that there will be a number of new faces coming through the doors at The Den this summer as he attempts to rebuild prior to the forthcoming season.

Now in his second spell in control of the team, Harris fully has the fans’ backing after a good conclusion to the 2023/24 season. Returning in February following Joe Edwards’ sacking, the former striker would pick up a very outstanding eight victories and two draws during his 13 games in charge.

That would take the Lions from a relegation-threatened club into a mid-table one and they’d wind up finishing in a very acceptable 13th place, winning each of their final five matches. As a result there’s lot of hope for next term and understandably so given the squads’ performances under Harris.

It is nonetheless going to be a summer of change at the Den, with lots more signings expected. The 46-year-old hasn’t shied away from the idea that changes are still needed across the pitch and a strategy already seems to be in place.

They don’t seem to be too far away from their first signing of the summer when word came on Wednesday that Japhet Tanganga had been released by Tottenham Hotspur. The defender impressed during his time with Millwall and the club were reported to have an interest in the 25-year-old. Now available on a free transfer, he could well be returning to play for the Lions next season.

That would be just one position that Harris wants to enhance this summer, with the manager underlining to the Southwark News that he needs improvements across the pitch.

“We’ve identified players in the five or six positions that we feel we need to strengthen. Obviously we always have players we would want to consider. You get to the stage where they become priority players.

“You are looking at plan A, plan B, plan C and so on. Players have their opinion on what they want to do and so do other clubs.

“As always in the Championship, it is a competitive market.

“It is not just the players in the positions we want to strengthen. We also have to consider that if a player turns around and says to me that for family purposes he wants to leave to pastures new then that certainly becomes a different difficulty for us as well.

“Out of the blue we might have to find an additional player. Those are the sort of obstacles that beset any football club’s recruitment department in any given transfer window.”

Writer’s View

It seems as if Harris is being somewhat ambitious about his business before to the start of the new season despite a great showing towards the conclusion of previous term. He understands that he’s got the full backing of the club as well as the fans owing to his history with the Lions and if recruiting well this summer, they might move even farther.

They’ll now be expected to announce the signing of Tanganga following his release from Spurs and it’s a major boost that he’s available on a free as well. Joining in January, Millwall’s defence greatly improved both after the defender’s arrival as well as Harris’ and the two now look set to hook up again.

Given how they finished last term, Millwall may well suddenly be chasing a play-off berth next season.

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