Rotherham boss Paul Warne says he’ll speak to his Town counterpart Mick McCarthy regarding his January plans for Kieffer Moore, who is on loan with the Millers, next week.
Moore has netted 10 goals in 14 games for the South Yorkshire side - League One's joint-top score along with ex-Town frontman Jack Marriott - since joining them in July on a season-long loan but with the Blues able to cut his spell short in January.
"I’ll probably leave it until after the weekend,” Warne told the Sheffield Star. "I’ll let Mick have their game first. I’ll speak to him and see if I can know which way the water is flowing, if you see what I mean.
"If Mick says, ‘He’s perfect for me, there’s no way you can have him’, that’s fine. I have got no issue with that. He’s already doing me a favour letting me have him. I’d be disappointed, obviously.
"He might say that he’s going to watch him a few more times, which I think will be his default answer. I can get a gauge, and I can also apologise for our first-half performance at Wimbledon!”
McCarthy watched Rotherham’s 3-1 defeat at AFC Wimbledon at Kingsmeadow on Tuesday evening, in which fellow on-loan Blue Josh Emmanuel was an unused sub.
"Mick texted me to ask if Kieffer was playing and when I said he was he decided to come along and watch him,” Warne told BBC Radio Sheffield.
"I can't speak for him but I presume he saw that although it wasn't the best game for Kieffer he was a physical presence in a poor game. He probably thinks that he led the line quite well in an ugly game.
"There wasn't a lot to judge him on so I presume he will watch him, as will other people, again.
"The figurehead of the team, the centre-forward, is only as good as what's behind him. If he doesn't get given chances or balls in the right positions then he isn't going to score.
"I think the lads went too direct to him on Tuesday so I feel for him a bit. And that's not Kieffer's fault, he's such a good player that the lads thought we'll just get it to Kieffer.
"Away from home he doesn't get the same opportunities as he does at home. We are more an attacking side at home with it being a different sort of game away from home. At the moment he's sort of drowning in his own success.”
Moore, 25, is contracted to the Blues until the end of the season with Town having an option to extend his spell for a further year.