Millwall Lionesses manager Dan Mlinar has landed his deadline day target with the capture of highly rated Chelsea striker Rosella Ayane.
The 19 year-old joins Millwall on loan from the WSL 1 giants, having already played a number of first team games for Chelsea in the 2014 campaign.
Rosella has been a long term target for Mlinar and speaking this morning, the Lionesses boss admits he’s delighted to have secured the England Under-19 international, saying “She is a forward and a goalscorer and that’s what we’ve brought her in to do.
“Rosella scored twice in the Continental Cup tie against our first team last year and a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 6-1 Development team win over us at Beckenham in December, so she’s got goals in her.
“She’s tall, she’s got presence, she’s a powerful runner with, and without the ball and I think she adds something different to the team that we don’t already have.”
For those fans that haven’t had the chance to see Ayane in action, what does Dan consider to be her main attributes? He explained: “She’s comfortable playing as a target centre forward or off the shoulder, depending on what system we play.”
“She can also pull wide on the left hand side and she seems to be good at beating people one-on-one, which is something we might utilise.”
“Ideally I want her doing all her work in the final third and in and around the box. If she can come in and get six or eight goals between now and the end of her loan spell that would be great.”
“We can offer her that next level of competition because there is a big step from Development League to WSL 2, and then obviously another bigger step up to WSL 1.”
“Fingers crossed she stays fit and playing well, then we can give her a regular 90 minutes at increased level and intensity, so I think the loan move will be beneficial to both teams.”
Rosella could make her Millwall debut this Sunday 29 March when the Lionesses take on Everton at The Den, kick-off 2.00pm
