Millwall boss Gary Rowett has told the South London Press that he is now reconsidering whether he wants to loan out defender Alex Mitchell or not this season. 

The young centre back recently impressed for the Lions in their pre-season friendly defeat to Arsenal and even found the net with his side's only goal of the game.

Mitchell is a player that Rowett had been thinking about loaning out this summer, with the youngster having only just returned to the New Den after a temporary spell with Bromley last term.

Now it appears that the Millwall man's stance may have changed over the teenager's future may have changed as he stated the following:

"Young Alex Mitchell, he's living the dream at the moment, he's had a really quick rise to the first team. He comes in every day and has a massive smile on his face, he just wants to go and play, he wants to test himself and although the plan for Alex Mitchell was to go out on loan again, at this moment in time, he’s benefiting so much from being in and around the first-team.

"He's given me some food for thought as to whether I keep him with us for longer."

The youngster has progressed well through the club's academy system to get to this point and is yet to have made his senior debut for the Lions so far.

Mitchell is currently under contract with Millwall until next summer and will be hoping to earn a new deal, wherever he finds himself playing his football moving forwards.

The Verdict 

It's clear that Millwall have a really talented young player on their hands and I think Rowett has been forced into facing what is a really tough decision.

If Mitchell continues to perform well for the rest of pre-season, I think it would be wise to keep him at the New Den, as he could be a useful option to utilise during the more hectic periods.

However if the opportunity arises for him to go on loan to another Football League club, I can't see the Lions turning that down.

Wherever he ends up this summer, he needs to be playing regularly and I'm not sure if he would be getting that sort of playing time with Millwall moving forwards.