Rudy Gestede reportedly turned down an offer to leave Boro for Championship rivals Millwall during the January transfer window.
Millwall manager Neil Harris has admitted that he was within touching distance of signing Middlesbrough striker Rudy Gestede on transfer deadline day, according to Football London.
A £6 million addition from Aston Villa in 2017, Gestede has been an expensive flop at the Riverside, having scored just four Championship goals for the club.
Having fallen behind Jordan Hugill and Britt Assombalonga in the pecking order, it was expected that the Benin international would leave before the end of January. But, according to Sky Sports, Gestede rejected a move to Millwall, instead choosing to fight for his place under Tony Pulis.
Harris has now confirmed that he thought the deal was destined to go through and has seemingly hit out at Gestede for being happy with life on the bench.
“We were very close. There was a stage where I thought one was done. In fact, I thought more than one was done,” said the Millwall boss, who has lost both Tom Elliott and Lee Gregory to injury recently.
“What I don’t understand is there are a lot of players that decide to stay at clubs where they are clearly not going to play. That’s not me that, I wanted to play. I wanted to compete.”
Reacting on Twitter, many Middlesbrough fans have made it clear that they’d have been more than happy to see the disappointing Gestede bid farewell despite the club’s lack of goals in recent months.
Now, it seems that he is stuck in no-man’s land between now and the end of the season.
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