Birmingham City: Matt Mills stays on Alex McLeish's wanted list

Mar 14 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Mail

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ALEX McLeish has admitted he is still keen on Doncaster Rovers defender Matt Mills.

McLeish and his team get a close look at the centre-half in today’s game at the Keepmoat.

And the Blues boss said he expected Mills to be highly motivated to do well.

On the last day of the January transfer window, Blues failed to land Mills.

They offered £500,000, with the rest as add-ons. After Doncaster rebuffed them, Blues eventually went as high as £1.5million, but it was too late.

After the deadline shut, an audacious attempt to take Mills on loan – with the asking price paid as the loan fee – was also rejected.

McLeish had also tried to get Calum Davenport from West Ham United – he went to Sunderland – and various other targets fell by the wayside.

Blues ended up with no one but McLeish stressed he wasn’t prepared just to dive in for the sake of it.

“If I could tell you the list of centre-halves I have knocked back, it would probably frighten you,” he said.

“But I want to try to bring the right players to the club which is why I don’t want to commit the club to three or four years [contracts] on people who ultimately aren’t going to be right.

“Mills is a young player who I feel can get even better.