Rotherham United manager Paul Warne has warned Championship rivals Burnley that they will have to pay a lot more than £2 million for midfielder Ben Wiles, speaking to The Star.
Firing The Millers to promotion out of League One while scoring ten goals along the way, Wiles’ masterful displays at the heart of Warne’s engine room certainly caught the eye lat season.
A Burnley side in transition have now submitted three separate bids for the Rotherham-born 23-year-old. All have been rejected. According to The Athletic, their most recent offer stood at £2 million, plus add ons.
But while Warne did not rule out the possible sale of Rotherham’s homegrown hero, he did insist that Wiles was going nowhere on the cheap.
Burnley have failed with three bids for Rotherham’s Ben Wiles
“(We are) not a selling club. But, unless you’re Man City, everyone has a price on their head,” says the long-serving Millers boss.
“We’ve turned down a decent bid for Dan Barlaser, we’ve turned down three bids for Wilesy. The last was over £2million. These are very good players that we value. We don’t want to sell but everyone has a value.
“The offers that have come in are nowhere near our valuation. They are our players, they understand it, I have spoken honestly about it.
“We are a really healthy club. We don’t want people to come in and take our players. They are our prized assets.”
Burnley did complete the £700,000 signing of Standard Liege enforcer Samuel Bastien on Tuesday. Another midfielder is a must, however, with Ashley Westwood stuck on the sidelines and Dale Stephens leaving. Jack Cork and the much-coveted Josh Brownhill are the only midfield options currently at Vincent Kompany’s disposal.
In addition to Wiles, The Clarets have also been linked with Anderlecht duo Josh Cullen and Majeed Ashimeru. Kompany all-but ruled out a raid of his old employers last month however.
“There are some interesting profiles for us in Belgium. It is possible that players from the Belgian league will come,” Kompany said.
“But at the moment, I don’t think about getting players from Anderlecht. I don’t want to harm my former club. That is far from my intention.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
