Blues manager Kieran McKenna has spoken about Town’s late window interest in Millwall winger Femi Azeez.

On deadline day, Millwall sources indicated a number of Blues bids had been rebuffed, the highest of which would have made the 24-year-old the South Londoners’ biggest ever sale, surpassing the £14.5 million Crystal Palace paid for Romain Esse a year ago, manager Alex Neil subsequently confirming the approaches.

Asked if he could give any details on the interest, McKenna said: “In terms of bids, no. I know he’s a player the club have monitored for a while and like, and felt he could bring some different qualities to the squad. But in the end, he’s a Millwall player and he wasn’t obtainable so we crack on as we are.”

An attempt to sign another right-sided forward player came as a surprise to most supporters with the Blues having brought in Sindre Walle Egeli for a Championship record fee, £17.5 million, in the summer along with Kasey McAteer, who was recruited from Leicester for £11.5 million, while Wes Burns is now back from injury and Chieo Ogbene is out on loan for the season at Sheffield United.

Quizzed further on the interest in one-time Reading man Azeez, McKenna added: “Femi is a player that the club have identified for a while. He is a really good player, who has some really different qualities to the players we have in the building.

“We said we had to use this window to do everything we could to improve this squad in any way possible. He is a player the club thought could take us forward. In terms of bids and stuff like that, I am not across that and it is not my area. 

“In terms of our right wing, we sold a right winger for £40 million really late in the summer. A player in Omari [Hutchinson], who we hoped and believed would be with us for the season. After that situation changed, the club made a record-breaking sale for the football club.

“Then we looked to strengthen in that area but it is not easy to do so at that point of the window. It is almost impossible to replace with the output that Omari was giving us and was capable of giving us. The club did what they thought was right.

“And I’ve spoken before that we brought in Kasey, who we know has already played Championship games, he’s a really good player who we know will get better and better in the future. He has some qualities that we really love in that right wing position.

“As I’ve said before, just because you spend money on a player, it doesn’t guarantee that they are going to come in and hit the ground running. There have been many cases of that here and at every football club of a player who has been signed for £150 million or £1 million - it doesn’t matter. Kasey is still someone we believe in and believe will have a good role to play at the club.

“We had the opportunity to bring in Sindre Egelle who, for me, is a top, top talent and a versatile forward, not a specialist right winger per se, but a left-footed attacker who we wanted to bring into the building, who can contribute and play on the right wing.

“He’s just turned 19 years of age, never played outside of Scandinavia and I think he has had a very, very strong first half of the season for the jump he has made.

“It is clear, and we knew at the time, when you sign a player for that transfer fee, that the perception and expectation is going to be completely different.

“The reality of the Championship is that you can sign top, top players on loan. Middlesbrough, for example, have a top Norwegian talent on loan [Sverre Nypan], same age as Sindre, from Manchester City and he has made a couple of starts in the Championship.

“Sindre is a really strong acquisition for the club and has got the potential to go on to become a really top player. He has contributed strongly in the first half of the season, but we know it is going to be hard for him to perform to a super-consistent top level with the amount of games and the rigours of the Championship.

“We see him developing and I think it is a position with just Sindre and Kasey alone where we are really strong on that right hand side of the pitch. The club is set up very well for the future in that position.

“With other things, like Wes coming back from an injury, and you don’t know how he is going to be, there are always lots of things in the mix. Every decision we’ve made at the club has always been for the right reasons.

“I think we have brought some real young talented footballers to the club. The reason we had money to invest in a right winger is because the bravery and support of our ownership to go and sign an Omari Hutchinson on loan, to then go and spend a big transfer fee on him because of our belief that we can improve and develop players.

“We have now brought in some more to the football club and we continue to work with them and believe in them that they will have positive impact in the future.”

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