Millwall will be eager to achieve an immediate return to the Championship following relegation this year, and they believe Bradford City striker James Hanson can help them do exactly that.
According to Bradford paper the Telegraph and Argus, City's joint-chairman Mark Lawn and chief operating officer James Mason rejected a bid from the Lions for Hanson last week as they believed it did not match their valuation of the player, but their new League One rivals have not been deterred by this.
The towering striker remains on Neil Harris' shopping list for the summer's transfer window, a player whose height is perhaps seen to match Millwall's long-ball style approach to games.
The annual Football League meeting is currently taking place in Portgual, and there Lawn and Mason are expected to be reminded of the Lions' interest, with chief executive Andy Ambler stating clearly that he "will be speaking with the club again when [he] meet[s] up with them in Portugal."
However, he did admit that Hanson is one of various strikers that Millwall are looking at, saying, "we've got various targets for that position. If one doesn't come off, we'll move to the next one and the next one." This suggests that resistance from the Bantams will eventually see the club's pursuit of Hanson end.
Since signing from non-league Guiseley, the 27-year-old Hanson has scored 74 goals in 269 appearances for the Bantams, including 11 in a 2014/15 season hampered by injuries. The tally sees him sit seventh in the club's all-time top-scoring list and he has also been the club's top-scorer for three of the last six seasons. With another two years left on his contract, Hanson is currently their longest-serving player as well.
Millwall will perhaps be boosted by the news that City are close to agreeing a permanent deal with Huddersfield-misfit, but successful Bradford loanee, Jon Stead. Stead, another towering striker, had an incredible season for the Bantams and finished as the player with the most goals and assists in the 2014/15 FA Cup, despite City being knocked out by Reading in the quarter-finals.
However, Stead and Hanson are far from the same type of player and so the Lions should not view Stead as a man to replace Hanson if City plan to sell him. City manager Phil Parkinson this week confirmed that he and Stead will sit down in the coming days to agree terms on a new, permanent deal with the club.