Gary Rowett urges youngsters to ‘show what they can do’ in Millwall friendlies

GARY Rowett has challenged Millwall’s young stars to “show what they can do” across the club’s four pre-season games.

The squad head to Kent today to take on Gillingham for their first game in front of fans since May.

The manager is set to play two different XIs in both halves, giving a number of players the chance to impress.

This includes some exciting young talents currently at The Den who will be looking to get more game time during the Championship season.

Rowett believes the time to shine is now for those looking to push into the first-team.

He told NewsAtDen: “There’s always that opportunity. The likes of Chin [Okoli], Niino [Adom-Malaki], Aidomo [Emakhu], Romain [Esse], Alex Mitchell – but he’s a little more senior in some ways – but there’s an opportunity for all those players to show what they can do and show their development.

“They’ve all done well in different parts of last season, whether that was with the under-21s or with the first-team squad.

“We’ve got a squad at the moment of 22, 23 players so I think the aim is always to give everybody the same opportunity to show what they can do and the same opportunity to impress and get fitness.

“So we’ll do the same [as we did] against Bromley, play two teams, two 45 minutes and maybe add a little bit of extra conditioning at half-time and after the game to make it feel more like a 60-minute game.”