Rotherham manager Paul Warne has confirmed his club tried to sign loan striker Kieffer Moore on a permanent basis during the August window after the 25-year-old, the joint-highest scorer in the top four English divisions with 13, had made a strong start to his spell at the New York Stadium. The League One club are resigned to losing their star man in January with Ipswich boss McCarthy having said he will cut short his loan.
"The chairman agreed we could put an offer in,” Warne told the Sheffield Star without revealing the figure bid. "It was rejected and they let us know he wasn’t really for sale and that they wanted him out on loan and to see where it took him.
"Mick McCarthy has said he is going to take him back in January and I don’t think there is anything more certain than that.
"It is written in cement. It is like one of the Commandments if Mick McCarthy says that. There is no way on this earth he will change his mind.
"Kieffer will go back, hopefully plays for Ipswich, they don’t see what we see, so he can play for us again. They might sell him before he even kicks a ball, but I have been led to believe he will go back and play.”
A number of other clubs, Plymouth Argyle, Port Vale, Stevenage and Partick Thistle among them, were interested in signing Moore on loan in the summer and could again be keen in January.
"I could have got Kieffer in on a permanent, but it was a bit of a gamble,” Warne added. "A lot of people told me it was a bad gamble at the time.
"It could have gone that way and I’d have fallen flat on my face. The loans are there for giving players game-time and now I have got to find something of a similar ilk.
"Every day in management is a challenge and replacing Kieffer is just one of those challenges.
"Since he started scoring and Ipswich knocked our bid back, we have been looking for replacements because it is inevitable that if you are scoring every week in League One then your parent club will want you back. It’s not like we have woken up today and only just realised it is going to happen.
"I was going to treat the lads to a cardboard cut-out of him and put it in the foyer over Christmas, and to tug at his heartstrings as well.
"I was sat at the training ground looking at clips. I was showing Kieffer who I am trying to get to replace him and I could see a little tear in his eye!
"When he goes back to Ipswich, I hope it goes brilliantly for him and he plays in the Championship for the rest of his life. I will be over the moon for him. He’s a great kid. He deserves to play at the highest level. But, from a selfish point of view, I hope he comes back and plays for me.
"It’s frustrating he is going back, but it shows how well he has done. If every loan player who came here got called back all the time, it would be frustrating but it would show we have done something right and we would get a good reputation.”
Moore, who cost the Blues £20,000 when he was signed from Forest Green Rovers in January, is contracted to Town until the end of the season with the club having an option for a further season.