A Championship club is reported to have made Rotherham United an offer of an initial £750,000 rising to £1.25 million for Blues target Matt Crooks, while Millers’ boss Paul Warne says he spoke with his Town counterpart Paul Cook last week about the situation and no further offer has been forthcoming from Portman Road.

Crooks has been the subject of two rebuffed Blues bids - £400,000 and then a bid of either £500,000 or £600,000 - while last week it was claimed the Millers had turned down an offer from another Championship side which was in excess of the Town bids but lower than the latest second-tier offer.

The Championship clubs linked with the 27-year-old this summer include include Middlesbrough, Peterborough United, Cardiff City and Derby County, who are currently subject to a transfer embargo. Warne says he and Cook have talked about the position.

“I spoke to the Ipswich manager last week,” he told the Rotherham Advertiser. “He candidly asked ‘What did I think?’, I candidly told him what I thought and they haven’t offered again.

“It is not something we’re looking to do, to lose our best assets to our competitors.

“I think, in fairness to the player and with no disrespect to Ipswich, if he was to leave here he would want Championship football. That’s what his ability deserves really.”

Last night, Town signed Scott Fraser from the MK Dons, however, as reported yesterday, we understand the Blues remain interested in Crooks.

Leeds-born Crooks, who can operate either in defensive or attacking midfield roles, was a schoolboy with Manchester United’s academy before moving on to Huddersfield with whom he made one senior appearance.

While with the Terriers he spent time on loan at FC Halifax, Radcliffe Borough and Accrington before joining Stanley on a permanent basis in 2016.

In July 2016 he joined Rangers in Scotland but six months later he departed for a loan spell at Scunthorpe having been unable to make an impression at Ibrox.

A switch to Northampton followed in the summer of 2017 before he moved on to Rotherham in January 2019 and he was a member of the side which won promotion to the Championship the next season, scoring both goals - out of a campaign total of 11 - in the Millers’ 2-0 victory over the Blues at Portman Road.

In 2020/21, Crooks netted seven times as the South Yorkshiremen dropped back into League One.

In March it was reported that Rotherham had held preliminary talks with Crooks regarding a new deal in the wake of the interest from Nottingham Forest.

The Cobblers are understood to be due a percentage of the Millers' profit if and when they sell.

Photo: Action Images

BeattiesBackPocket added 12:00 - Jul 15 Good player clearly but the manager cannot keep his mouth shut about it all clearly driving the price up which is fair enough I suppose although not seen many other managers doing this. 🤷‍♂️ Happy with what we have so far and a couple more additions.
2

bluesman added 12:04 - Jul 15 Warne is full of hot air. Remains to be seen if the price is equally hot. Obviously he'd love to avoid selling Crooks to us
0

vanmunt added 12:06 - Jul 15 I will be surprised if we sign this guy, all this whataboutery is not how we seem to do business at the moment. I think Warne/Rotherham think they are doing business with ME's Ipswich.
4

CraigEdwards added 12:14 - Jul 15 There just trying to bump the price up as they know we want/wanted him. Still need a solid CB tbh.
2

leftie1972 added 12:16 - Jul 15 and so we move on, we already have decent midfielders.....
5

arc added 12:18 - Jul 15 For all the denials, I expect the Fraser signing does mean the end of the Crooks chase. If I were Cook, I wouldn't want to give the impression that the two deals were linked and that Fraser is somehow his second choice. Good, sensible work by Town here, I think.
8

MaySixth added 12:23 - Jul 15 Paul Warne has always hated Ipswich. Nice to see us getting under his skin.
3

BlueBlood90 added 12:26 - Jul 15 As I've posted in the forum this morning, he has absolutely no problem talking about Ipswich Town again but won't reveal who the supposed Championship clubs are? I personally think he is desperately trying to tempt us back in to make an offer because they want the funds to spend on their own transfer targets.
4

Blue_75 added 12:48 - Jul 15 Paul Warne is a Norwich fan, so he has the added incentive of not wanting us to get Crooks. Not looking good for this deal unfortunately.
0

Monkey_Blue added 12:51 - Jul 15 You can't criticise Warne for driving the price up. It's better than driving the price down on players by telling the whole world you want shot of them. I'm wondering who did that recently🤔
-4

brendenward35 added 12:57 - Jul 15 Think it was a no go when Warne said his reluctant to sell to a competitor if we've put in a decent offer then move on he'll be a free agent next summer and he'll be a lot cheaper come the January window as Rotherham be desperate to sell to get some money in. Done well so far in the transfer market lets move on and look at plan B now as I'm sure Ashton will have a few cards up his sleeves.

2

Bazza8564 added 13:31 - Jul 15 With any luck Warne will look at the number (and the way) of players we have signed and and leave the conversations to Mark Ashton and his chairman, clearly we wont be held to ransom, and we wont be drawn into a public fight either...
0

ITFC_95 added 14:03 - Jul 15 He doesn't seem to understand why anyone would want to leave a club that's highest ambition is to stay in the championship for more than a year…
1

Dissboyitfc added 14:04 - Jul 15 We are like that hard crispy toilet paper we had at school,izal doesn't take s&)t off anyone!
0

DinDjarin added 14:39 - Jul 15 We are probably still in for him as the Fraser talks started weeks ago
1

ImAbeliever added 15:31 - Jul 15 Dissboy - thanks for the memory 🧻
2

ThatMuhrenCross added 15:51 - Jul 15 Offer £750k + Jackson. I think they'd find that hard to turn down.
3

midastouch added 16:31 - Jul 15 Warne is just one big Yawn! Need an early warning system when conducting business with Warne. He's got more spin than Shane Warne!
3

Saxonblue74 added 17:02 - Jul 15 Thatmuhrencross, take Jackson out of the deal to make it more appealing?
8

dirtydingusmagee added 17:23 - Jul 15 Oh dear, Town wont dance to Warnes tune , lol
1

istanblue added 17:31 - Jul 15 Good to see we aren't being held to ransom by crooks like Warne!
1

TractorRoyNo1 added 18:31 - Jul 15 That Muhren Cross- by my calculation That makes £750,001.00
2

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