Millwall star drops insider Premier League transfer info after £7m Deadline Day deal

Former Millwall striker Zian Flemming has confirmed transfer rumours that suggested he could quit the club 12 months ago for a Premier League side after securing a loan-to-buy move to Championship rivals Burnley on Deadline Day last week.

The 26-year-old spent a successful two years at The Den having signed from Fortuna Sittard for £2.5 million in 2022. Flemming was the side's top scorer in the Championship last term with seven goals, having plundered 15 during his first season in the division.

That impressive showing during the 2022/23 campaign turned heads of potential suitors last summer. There were plenty transfer links with Burnley said to be seriously interested in signing the player having just achieved promotion to the Premier League.

Ultimately, nothing came to fruition from those rumours but Flemming has now confirmed there was some truth to the talk. Having now made the switch to Turf Moor, the striker told the club, via the Burnley Express: “Burnley had just gone up to the Premier League, so that would’ve been moving to the Premier League. That deal, in the end, didn’t get done and I played another year at Millwall.”

Flemming left Millwall on Deadline Day last week, signing a season-long loan deal with the Clarets. Burnley also have an obligation to buy clause for a transfer worth £7 million at the end of the season.

The striker's last minute exit from The Den caused a flurry of incomings for Millwall with a lack of options up top. Josh Coburn arrived on loan from Middlesbrough while Mihailo Ivanovic came in on a permanent deal.

Opening up on his summer move, Flemming added: “It was only on Thursday morning when I found out about Burnley’s interest. That was just before training. I still didn’t really know the details and how serious it was, so I went to training and then spoke to my agent and my Dad and figured out it was quite serious.

“I thought to myself ‘the next day is deadline day, so maybe my world is about to turn upside down in the next 24 hours’ or maybe not, because you never know.

“He (his Dad) is always involved in everything, but also on the football side. In the Championship they (Burnley) are one of the biggest clubs and one of the favourites to go up again. Obviously, they have just come down from the Premier League so they have big ambitions.

“The Championship is a really tough league, I’ve known that now for the past two years so it’s impressive to stand out in a league like that, which they obviously did during the promotion year.”