Rotherham boss Paul Warne has confirmed his club plan to make a bid for on-loan striker Kieffer Moore in January, despite Blues MD Ian Milne having said it’s unlikely that Town will look to sell the 25-year-old during the window.
Moore has scored 13 times for the League One Millers since joining them on a season-long loan at the start of the campaign with Blues manager Mick McCarthy having indicated he will cut the spell short in January, most likely after the FA Cup tie with Sheffield United for which the Torquay-born frontman is ineligible.
"Yes, we will be bidding,” Warne, whose club previously made an offer towards the end of August window, told the Sheffield Star. "That’s definite. I’ve had the conversation with the chairman.
"It’s crazy to think I wouldn’t want him. He’s been the highest scorer in England. He’s a great kid. He’s still at a good age. I think he will still improve.”
Moore was red-carded at Bristol Rovers recently and will serve the final game of his three-match ban when Rotherham take on the MK Dons at home on Saturday.
"We’ve missed him in the last couple of games,” Warne said. "Because we’ve picked up points everybody thinks, ‘Hey, there’s life after Kieffer’. I don’t look at it like that.
"I think we would have been better if he had played. I will do everything I can to try to keep him. But if the figures go out of our remit, that’s the way football is.”
Warne added: "I can see him coming back one of two ways. One, we bid the most, obviously. Two, they choose not to sell him in that the value of the bids for him do not match their expectations.
"If Ipswich get offered something nominal, then they will be in no rush to sell. If it was me and an offer didn’t come in that I wanted, then I would say, ‘Go back and add to your reputation and we’ll look at you in the summer’.
"But I also know that how clubs start January might not be how they end it. Clubs can panic and end up spending more than they were going to originally.
"I think, potentially, we could keep him. The positive part of my brain thinks it will happen. The pessimist in me thinks maybe not so. I’m hopeful, but I wouldn’t put my life on it.”
Moore, who cost Town £20,000 when he was signed from Forest Green in January, is contracted to the Blues until the end of the season with the club having an option for a further year.