"Far too early" - Claim made on potential Romain Esse replacement at Millwall | OneFootball

Our Lions fan pundit has praised Raees Bangura-Williams but needs to see more to be convinced that he can follow in Esse's footsteps

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...

Our Millwall fan pundit has praised young winger Raees Bangura-Williams for the way he has taken to senior football since Romain Esse's January departure, but believes it is too early to say whether he will follow in the 19-year-old's footsteps to play in the Premier League in his senior career.

Bangura-Williams has made a surprise breakthrough at The Den over the last few months, after Esse's £14.5 million move to Crystal Palace left the Lions with a clear gap in their attack that needed to be filled with a similarly tricky and dynamic player.

He is a year older than the Eagles' new signing, at 20, but has had to wait for his chance in professional football up until this season after initially being on the books at Chelsea, Watford, Spurs and Norwich City as an academy player.

The right-winger played in non-league for Tooting & Mitcham United from 2021 to 2023, then signed for the Lions in December of that year before going on to make his first-team debut just last month. He has been a revelation under new boss Alex Neil so far.

Bangura-Williams had a dream start to his first ever senior game for Millwall last month, as he scored a great solo effort within ten minutes of stepping off the bench against Dagenham & Redbridge in the FA Cup Third Round at The Den.

He made his Championship debut a week later against Hull City, and has gone on to feature six more times for the Lions in both league and cup, with four starts in that time, and an impressive tally of three assists against Cardiff City, Luton Town and Portsmouth respectively.

Our Millwall fan pundit, Lucas Ball, has heaped praise on Bangura-Williams, as a result of his standout start to life as a senior professional at the club, but is unsure as yet if he will follow in Esse's footsteps to the top-flight, after we asked him if he sees the 20-year-old having a similar trajectory to the Premier League, or not.

“(Raees Bangura-Williams) has done really well. He’s shown really good glimpses," Lucas told FLW.

“He’s got intelligence, physicality, willingness to get involved, all of those really positive traits that you want to see.

“It doesn't look like he’s afraid to do the dirty work, which is great. That’s obviously something that particularly Millwall fans are going to appreciate.

“Technically, he is very sound, good dribbler, can pick up the ball in tight spaces, decent eye for a pass. All those kinds of things are decent attributes to have.

“He’s come into mens football in a slightly different way to a lot of people. He stepped down to non-league and didn’t really come through the academy route.

“He’s done really well. Even when he did join our academy from a spell in non-league, he didn’t spend too much time in the youth team.

“He had to grow up pretty quickly. He was quite small, so has had to grow up and get used to the physicality, but he is a very good player.

“He’s done it now over like a five, six, seven game period so far, so good luck to him.

“I hope he goes on to have a fantastic career with us, but who knows whether he has Premier League potential? It is far too early to say really.

“He has shown very positive glimpses in his early Millwall days.”

Alex Neil has backed Bangura-Williams to continue making an impact

There could not have been a better time for Bangura-Williams to break through into the Lions' senior team, given Esse's recent exit, and it has likely been tough for manager Neil not to publicly compare him to the departing 19-year-old given their similar playing styles and high potential.

Bangura-Williams is clearly not going to be rushed into action by Neil, who benched him for the first time since his emergence last time out against West Brom, but the Millwall boss has previously spoken about how pleased he is by his impact over the last month, and how he wants him to keep on improving this season while staying grounded.

"He wasn’t best pleased with himself at half-time (against Luton Town). I don’t think he felt as if he impacted the first half, which is crazy considering he’s a kid and it’s his first away game that he’s ever played," he told the South London Press on January 27.

"But, what it shows you is the standards that he holds for himself. What he needs to do is make sure that he takes that it into the second half and turns it into a positive.

"What he’s got is a level of composure and a level of vision that allows him to influence games in the final third. That’s why he is in the team, whether he plays as a 10 or I play him off the left, he’s flexible in terms of doing that.

"He is supremely confident in his own technical ability. He’ll take the ball in tight spaces. He might give it away at times, which is fine, but provided he does that in the right areas of the pitch for us.

"I’m more than happy for him to showcase that sort of creative edge to his game."

Neil is an experienced boss at this level, so he will have seen many players come through the ranks like Bangura-Williams, but then fail to build on a good start to their senior careers. It is, then, pretty clear that he is trying to temper expectations when it comes to the 20-year-old, particularly with comparisons to Esse.

With that said, if he continues to shine at The Den, then those comparisons will only continue to arise, and it may not be long before a Premier League team come calling if he shows that he can consistently impact games in the Championship with goals and assists before the end of this season.