Reaction given to big Millwall, Will Smallbone dilemma - 'I'm just not sure' | OneFootball

Millwall have been the surprise package of the season in the Championship, but there's one player who has a question mark hanging over his head.

Millwall have been one of the surprise packages in this season's Championship, and the Lions are being urged to look again at a loanee midfielder who's had an injury-disrupted season at The New Den.

Could this be Millwall's year? Five times in the eight full seasons since they returned to the Championship from League One in 2017, the Lions have finished in the top ten in the division, but without managing to take that extra step and secure themselves a play-off place.

This season, however, seems likely to end differently for the club. Millwall are in fourth place in the table with just eight games to go, just two points from an automatic promotion place and with a comfortable looking 11-point barrier between themselves and seventh-placed Southampton. As things stand, a play-off place will be their minimum expectation, while automatic promotion remains a distinct possibility.

A large part of the reason for Millwall's success in recent years has been their canniness in the transfer market, but you can't always account for injuries. Will Smallbone joined them on loan from Southampton last summer, but a hamstring injury left him on the sidelines until the end of February, though the player did return earlier in March and has now made three brief appearances for the club from the bench as he continues his rehabilitation from his latest injury set-back.

Millwall urged to look again at Will Smallbone in the summer

Football League World have spoken to our resident Millwall fan pundit, Lucas Ball, about Smallbone's time at The Den, and Lucas feels that a potential summer move for the player could be possible because they didn't return him to his parent club, Southampton when he injured himself in October: "I'm not sure on Smallbone as yet.

"If we weren't to go up, I think he's one I'd look at. I think he's out of contract at Southampton and I assume that's probably why we kept him when he got that long-term injury lay-off and didn't send him back for them to have more of a look at him in this half of the season."

And Lucas has been impressed by what he's seen of Smallbone, especially his versatility across a range of midfield positions: "When he has played, he's been solid. I don't think he's done anything too spectacular, but he's had to play a couple of roles in midfield at different times, and I think we'd probably like to use him as a number 10, but we haven't always had that option."

Lucas referred to his team's recent 1-0 home win against Derby County as proof of the player's adaptability: "I think in midweek, he came on, and he was playing more as an 8, and as a 6 at times, so it's a bit different to his usual profile, you'd like to see him pushing forward a little bit more and trying to create things. There's definitely a player in there, there's no doubt about that, especially at Championship level."

But our Millwall fan pundit also offers a degree of restraint over making a move for the player in the summer: "He's someone I'd look to sign if we were to go up, though I'm not sure. We just haven't seen enough of him this season to make a full judgement on that. It's been tough for him as well, there's no disputing that, but I'm sure the club have been assessing him as well, and we'll see what happens over the summer."

Will Smallbone's injury issues have blighted the player's 2025-26 season

With four seasons of Premier League football at Southampton already under his belt, Will Smallbone would have the experience that Millwall would want, were they to win promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season.

But injuries have become an issue for the player. Last season, a thigh injury limited him to just 18 appearances in the Premier League for Southampton, and the fact that he's spent much of this season in the treatment room at Millwall is a clear concern.

The total amount of game-time that he's received since returning from injury earlier in March has been so limited that it's been difficult to assess him. He's made three appearances from the bench for Millwall since that return, but these have only amounted to a total of 14 minutes of football over all of them.

Millwall's recent home defeat to Blackburn Rovers could provide Smallbone with an opportunity to prove himself further. As the season reaches its closing straits, players are starting to tire and manager Alex Neil could be persuaded to switch things up and give him a bit more of a first-team run out. And it's worth reflecting on our fan pundit's comment that Millwall could have sent him back to St Mary's in order to recuperate, but kept him at The Den instead, all of which suggests that his loan club have plans for him.

It is true to say that his contract expires this summer, having signed a three-year extension with Southampton in August 2023. And his availability at the end of this season as a free transfer could yet alert other clubs. If Alex Neil opts to shake his team up following the Blackburn loss, Will Smallbone could be given the chance to prove himself to the manager, and even in the event that this doesn't happen, he's demonstrated both his Premier League and Championship credentials before, and he could prove to be a valuable addition no matter where he ends up, upon the expiry of his Southampton contract this summer.