ROTHERHAM United have paid a club record undisclosed transfer fee to sign striker Jordan Bowery from Aston Villa.
The 22-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the newly-promoted Millers.
"We are delighted to sign him, we have been very patient on this deal and again we are thankful to the chairman in providing the funds for this record transfer, and thankfully we were able to persuade Jordan that his future lies in Rotherham," said manager Steve Evans.
"I'm thankful to Paul Lambert at Aston Villa for the kind words he said about Rotherham United and we are just delighted to have got the deal over the line and have young Jordan come on board."
Bowery started his career at Chesterfield and was signed by Villa for a reported £500,000 fee in August 2012.
He made 22 appearances for Villa, including six starts, without scoring.
Rotherham have also secured the return of Newcastle United duo James Tavernier and Haris Vuckic, signing both on a permanent basis.
Both starred in the Millers successful play-off campaign as they reached the second tier of English football.
NOTTINGHAM Forest's prospective signing Lars Veldwijk has asked for more time to mull over moving to the City Ground club.
After completing a medical on Monday night, it was thought the deal for the 6ft 5in striker was completed.
However, with reported interest from Leicester City, all remains unclear for Stuart Pearce's side, who have at least added former City striker Matty Fryatt to the squad, the ex-Hull forward signing on a three-year deal.
BIRMINGHAM City coach Lee Clark is resigned to losing two of his star players, Chris Burke and Nikola ZIgic on free transfers.
Despite the Blues offering the two new deals, it seems both will move onto pastures new this summer.
Clark said: "Chris has got numerous offers, which will just blow ours away, Nikola hasn't accepted our offer, hasn't been in touch, so we will be looking for a replacement for him."
Former Rotherham United frontman Wes Thomas is one of those Clark is looking at the replace the duo.
Burke was a one-time target for Derby County when Nigel Clough was manager.
IN a surprising move, Reading Academy Chief Eamonn Dolan has become the favourite for the vacant Leeds United manager's job.
Dolan has jumped ahead of Elland Road favourite Gary McAllister this week and it would certainly be a leftfield choice for new owner Massimo Cellino to make, after the inevitable departure of Brian McDermott.
The Irishman has been at Reading for 11 years, and has seen a golden spell of players come through the academy system, with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan all through his stewardship.
BRIGHTON & Hove Albion are reportedly interested in Leyton Orient's pacy winger Moses Odubajo.
The 20-year-old starred in Orient's exceptional season in League One as they just missed out on promotion.
Odubajo netted 12 goals in all competitions last season, and is also being "monitored" by Premier League Tottenham and West Ham.
REPORTS from France indicate that Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov has completed his takeover of Sheffield Wednesday.
L'Equipe have reported that a €50m deal is close to being finalised, and it is known that current owner Milan Mandaric has been looking to offload the club to safe hands.
The Hillsborough club had a mixed season, reaching the 5th round of the FA Cup and finishing comfortably in mid-table.
Mammadov already owns French club RC Lens, and has interests in La Liga champions Atletico Madrid, Portuguese runners-up FC Porto and Azerbaijani club FC Baku.
