Keeper Bartosz Bialkowski’s permanent switch to his loan club Millwall has been confirmed.

The 32-year-old Polish international had been on a season-long loan at the Den but with both parties keen to tie-up a longer-term switch this window.

In Millwall's case before other clubs look to sign him in the summer - Cardiff and Blackburn showed interest early in the window prior to a deadline for his January recall passed - and Town to gain cash which they could now work with during the final days of the transfer window with a loan, or perhaps two, more likely than permanent additions. It’s understood Bialkowski has signed an 18-month deal at the Den.

In June, Bialkowski came close to joining the Lions on a permanent basis but the move broke down due to concerns regarding the keeper’s knee which emerged during his medical and the £900,000 deal was called off.

A month later the loan move was agreed and Bialkowski has enjoyed a very impressive first half of the season for the Championship side. He has made 29 starts and one sub appearance.

It’s understood the undisclosed fee agreed between the clubs is lower than the one agreed in the summer with an initial sum payable to the Blues now plus further cash over the duration of his contract and add-ons related to appearances and performance. It's likely there is also a sell-on clause included in the deal.

Bialkowski made 177 starts and one sub appearance for the Blues having signed from Notts County in the summer of 2014 on a free transfer.

The 6ft 4in glovesman, who had a short spell on loan at Town in 2009 without making a senior appearance, won the club's Player of the Year gong in three successive seasons before relinquishing the award in 2018/19.

Photo: TWTD

Lightningboy added 15:28 - Jan 27 Even if it's only about £500k,that and the same amount for Nolan would be a nice million to give Lambo to beef up the promotion push. Over to you Marcus.......
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BurleysGloryDays added 15:36 - Jan 27 I agree, OsborneOneNil. Had his prime at ITFC, on way too much money, had a dire last season with us, and needed to go elsewhere with our thanks. How anyone pretends to understand what any of this means in the background I find hilarious, only Lambo and his team know what is happening, why, what the strategy is and why. And his transfers to date all suggest he knows very well what he's doing.

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BurleysGloryDays added 15:39 - Jan 27 I for one hope next season we're shaking hands with Bart pre game and then banging in several to beat Millwall both home and away. And making Bart regret coming in and asking Lambo for a transfer last week, as we sail up the Championship! Anyone with me?
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Scuzzer added 16:19 - Jan 27 Need to build a transfer pot so to coin a supermarket phrase, every little helps. Need to get Garbutt in next summer for a start. Bart apparently will still be living up here as he loves the area and his young family is really settled. He has bought a flat down that way so I hope it goes well for him. Thanks for all the good times Bart...a real pro and a gent as well.
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JewellintheTown added 16:22 - Jan 27 Sad to see him go for such a low figure considering the season he's had for Millwall. Is Bartosz Bialkowski the best shot stopper in the Championship? 🇵🇱 There’s definitely an argument for it. Since joining Millwall the man has been a brick wall ⛔️@1BartMan1 #Millwall #ITFC pic.twitter.com/IFuiCHY8Cg — Second Tier Podcast (@TheSecondTier) January 7, 2020 Good luck Bartman, thanks for all the memories.

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blues1 added 16:24 - Jan 27 Boroughblue. His value hasnt gone up because of his improvement in his performance from last season for the reason he now has 6 months less of his contract to run. So if his value was £900,000 in the summer, hes worth less than that now. The only way we could have got more in this window, was to have more than one club in for him. But as millwall were the only ones in a position to be able to sign him, weve got whatever it is. My guess is, it's not that much less than the original fee, especially when you take into account the wages off our bill, and indeed the loan fee we would have got when he went there in the summer.

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cat added 16:35 - Jan 27 No room for sentimentality on this one. We have two decent keepers so bank the money and move on. Good luck to the ‘Bartman'
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TimmyH added 16:57 - Jan 27 Good goalie for us over several seasons...wish him all the best however much we have sold him for which probably wasn't enough.
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cornishblu added 16:58 - Jan 27 Buy high ??....sell low??....Waghorn , Mings , Keifer Moore!!!!! We have been a selling club for years .,,Desperate for a Mings to come through the door every year to offset our losses .......it's as frustrating as anything but at least give us some credit (even if they were MM signings !,)
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DanSuperTown added 17:40 - Jan 27 Thanks Bart...... not exactly pulling up trees for Millwall, Holy is definitely no worse and suspect Norris may be with us a while longer
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Pendejo added 18:53 - Jan 27 Good luck and many thanks Bartman 2 points outside the play offs with a game in hand. Come on you Lions!
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Buryblue78 added 19:11 - Jan 27 Good luck Bart and thanks Apart from hopefully next season against us when Keane Norwood Sears and jackson all score against you!
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KiwiBlue2 added 19:42 - Jan 27 Sad to see him go but that is football. I suspect we got c700k and of course his wages off the books. Some of the latter could be used to improve the terms Woolfie and Flynn are on. It is going to be an interesting summer window........
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Dissboyitfc added 19:50 - Jan 27 Dont Agree Arnie! whilst it could be said that Knudsen wanted out after the world cup, Bart signed a new deal hardly the actions of a want away player. Was a rock for us for 3 seasons, so wish him well for the future, but he is no longer our future and we all move on. I dont really think our league position would have better if we'd had him in between the sticks instead of Holy or Norris.

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Wrightie added 21:09 - Jan 27
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Wrightie added 21:12 - Jan 27
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Carberry added 22:16 - Jan 27 Let's not blame Bart for the wages he was on. He was obviously shipped out to mitigate those. But of course the transfer has been mismanaged because we should have held Millwall to account when there were other clubs interested but we missed that window and are receiving less than the £900k as a result. And if anybody believes all that money will be used to strengthen in the January window they are deluded.

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braveblue added 22:21 - Jan 27 Good commercial business by Millwall the usual lack of commercial expertise by us. Why should the fee be lower? Proved his fitness and constantly plays. Another Evans brain wave!! How did he get so rich?
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Doctor_Earman added 22:38 - Jan 27 Kurwaaaaa
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istanblue added 23:22 - Jan 27 Evans probably using the fee to cover the fine from the Tranmere pitch invaders!
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blueboy1981 added 00:29 - Jan 28 Not surprised, I said he would not return - our Club pi##ed him off, and he was hell bent on leaving after that, and we know who did it .... !! Better overall keeper than any we have got currently, and Millwall have the benefit of it. All in all typical ITFC - like it, or not.
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RegencyBlue added 07:07 - Jan 28 The Bart who was supporters player of the year for three years running would be a big loss. The Bart of last season, not so much. Good luck to him.
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GatesPerm added 08:54 - Jan 28 I don't really see how the club could have handled this any better. We had been relegated and desperately needed to get Bart's wages off the bill. From the information made available at the time, Millwall were the only game in town and very cleverly manipulated an initial loan rather than a transfer. The club could have said no, but the likely outcome would have been Bart's wages still on the bill until at least January. If this had been the case I am pretty sure that the KVY signing would not have happened. Six months on, six months less to run on his contract, the fee will inevitably be lower.

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alfromcol added 16:02 - Jan 28 In total. We are top of the league. We have 2 keepers on a par with Bart, we get Bart's wages off the wage bill and get given hundreds of thousands of pounds. Where's the negative here??
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