Millwall "need to see more" from 1-cap international as permanent transfer deal mooted | OneFootball

Thierno Ballo could move to The Den on a permanent basis next summer

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It has been a largely positive first four months of the Championship season for Millwall, who have remained in and amongst the clutch of sides vying for a play-off place.

Such circumstances remained unchanged over the course of the weekend despite a 3-1 defeat to fellow top six hopefuls, Hull City, at The Den, albeit Alex Neil is currently enduring a major injury crisis in South London.

This significantly impacted the Scot's team selection against The Tigers, although he will be forced into yet another change ahead of next weekend's clash with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday after Femi Azeez was dismissed in the second half after an off-the-ball incident with Hull's in-form striker, Kyle Joseph.

The Lions did put up a fight to get something from the hotly-contested clash in SE16 despite being reduced to 10 men by Gavin Ward, as Aidomo Emakhu scored his first of the season with a neat curling finish 10 minutes from time, before Oli McBurnie sealed the contest with a late header.

One man who has been a difference-maker on occasions for Millwall this season, but was unable to provide such a spark against Sergej Jakirovic's team was on-loan Austrian international forward, Thierno Ballo.

The Ivory-Coast-born wide player has showcased, at times, exactly why he was highly thought of in the Chelsea youth ranks, before furthering his senior career in Austria with the likes of Rapid Wien and Wolfsburger AC - his current parent club.

However, in the move which saw Ballo return to London, some three years after departing Stamford Bridge, the Lions were able to negotiate an option-to-buy clause for the 23-year-old.

With that in mind, Football League World asked our Millwall fan pundit, Lucas Ball, whether Ballo has already produced enough - in terms of output and performance levels - for Neil and the hierarchy to already have their minds made up on whether the clause should be activated.

Thierno Ballo urged to 'show more' for Millwall FC as Lions push for play-offs

As previously mentioned, Ballo boasted a rather impressive record in terms of goals and assists when coming through Chelsea's highly productive youth ranks, scoring 21 times and posting 10 assists in 78 appearances for the club's Under-18 and Under-21s ranks.

Since making a first permanent senior move to Austrian Bundesliga side, Wolfsberger AC, Ballo also produced regularly for the club, scoring 33 times and racking up a further 18 assists in 110 appearances.

Yet, after Millwall narrowly missed out on achieving a first play-off berth at Championship level since 2002, Ballo was one of 11 new signings made on a permanent or temporary basis by the South London club.

Indeed, the winger would link up with the likes of the aforementioned Emakhu, Mihailo Ivanovic and club-record signing, Josh Coburn, as part of Neil's attacking department.

Having seen a loan switch with the view to a potential permanent deal agreed on Deadline Day of the previous transfer window, Ballo made his Lions bow in the 1-1 draw against local rivals, Charlton Athletic, on September 13.

Since then, he has scored once and registered five assists in 16 league appearances - 13 of which have come from the starting lineup.

As such, Ball is aware of the talent and potential Ballo possesses, but still believes he has more levels to go through before a permanent move is considered.

"I think I'd like to see a bit more from him before we're actively really pushing for it," Lucas told FLW. "That's not to say it won't happen.

"When he first came into the side, he looked a real bright spark, but has dipped a little since then.

"Wingers, to a degree, are always going to be that kind of player. They're going to blow hot and cold, particularly in a team that are towards the top end of the league but aren't scoring loads of goals and, at the moment, are struggling to get a team out," Ball explained.

"There's elements of that where players are probably playing more minutes than Alex Neil would like.

"There's different things that are affecting it. He's looked decent in spells and got a good technical background, having come through Chelsea's academy.

"I'd need to see more goal contributions from him as a winger," Ball stated.

"We need that from our wide players. Femi Azeez has been really good when he's been fit this season, and in Emakhu, we've got a winger that, as lively as he looks, his goal contributions are very low for a Championship player.

"We'll have to see with Ballo. It's an interesting one, and one that I think could happen, but I think the option inserted was relatively contingent on us going up.

"We'll have to see what happens."

Alex Neil will hope Thierno Ballo can find goalscoring form for Millwall

As good as Millwall have been so far this season, one criticism which has come their way has been a lack of goals, with only 25 goals scored in 21 games.

The aforementioned Azeez has certainly provided his fair share on one wing with six goals. However, the same cannot be said for Ballo, despite his five assists.

As such, Neil will hope that a marked improvement from the one-cap international is forthcoming as the race for the play-offs is set to intensify over the Christmas and New Year period, with multiple games on the agenda at a time when the Lions' boss sees his squad extremely stretched through unavailability.