Rotherham United winger Mickel Miller has joined Northampton Town on loan for the remainder of the 2020/21 campaign, subject to EFL and FA ratification.
Miller has turned out nine times for Paul Warne’s men since his summer arrival from Hamilton Academical, most recently in the Sky Bet Championship clash with Watford last month.
The London-born attacker finished as the Accies’ top-scorer in the 2018/19 campaign and will now be looking to help Keith Curle’s side consolidate their Sky Bet League One status, following promotion last term.
Boss Warne admitted that with opportunities hard to come by for the winger to nail down a place in the starting XI after a switch in formation of late, the chance for Miller to go and be involved more regularly at Sixfields Stadium made sense for all parties.
"Because we've have a change in our system recently, Mickel's game time has been reduced and even when an opportunity has come, I have put Trev [Clarke] on there instead," he told www.themillers.co.uk.
"I've played Wilesy out there as well, so his game time has been reduced a bit.
"He is definitely part of the plans, but I do understand that he needs to play games, so it was a no-brainer."
Warne continued to reveal that the pair had met for an open and honest chat about the situation at Roundwood prior to making the decision to allow Miller to depart on loan.
"He wants to play,” he added.
“I saw him down in the dumps in training. About three weeks ago I pulled him into my office and had a good chat with him, saying that he just needed to keep his levels high in training because he is a very good trainer.
"I could see from his face that a little bit of his spark had gone, as in, he just felt like he wasn't going to get on the pitch, which is totally understandable.
"He came to see me and asked me if something did come up when the window opened, that I did think was suitable for him, would I consider it - which is the nicest way to ask a manager. I said of course.”
The Millers boss concluded by reaffirming that this switch is far from the end of Miller’s chances at AESSEAL New York Stadium, explaining that he will be keeping close tabs on the progress of his summer signing between now and the end of the season.
"When I signed him in the summer I knew that the Championship was a big league, but with that said, he is definitely a part of my plans going forward.
"Northampton came forward and he wanted to go and really wanted to get out and play. He knows he is going with us planning on watching every minute and I have one of my scouts going to watch his game against Oxford this weekend.”
Everyone at Rotherham United would like to wish Mickel well in his spell with Northampton Town.