Notts County's Macaulay Langstaff signs for Millwall for undisclosed fee

Star striker Macaulay Langstaff has departed Notts County to move up to the Championship with Millwall for an undisclosed fee.

The 27-year-old had been appointed the Magpies ’ new club captain this summer after another Golden-Boot-winning campaign with the club, but that could not fend off the interest from a club two divisions higher.

The widely-reported fee for the transfer is £700k plus add-ons for Langstaff, who had an astonishing goal return in his two seasons with Notts. Singing from Gateshead in 2022, Langstaff netted 71 times in 97 appearances, including a record-breaking campaign in the National League which powered the club to a long-awaited promotion back to the EFL.

His 28-goal return in League Two earned him a place in the league’s official Team of the Season as well as the Golden Boot in what was his first-ever year in the EFL. This move to Millwall will be the steepest jump that Langstaff has made in a quick rise to prominence of the last few years, but he is unlikely to be fazed by the challenge with the translatable skills he possesses as a forward, outside of his goals.

While there is an obvious disappointment from Notts’ end to lose their talismanic striker, they believe the value of the deal agreed for his transfer protects them for the future as they reinvest it into the squad.

Part of the directors’ statement read: “We’re incredibly proud of what Macaulay has achieved in his time at Meadow Lane and wish him every success as he commences this exciting new chapter in his career. He thoroughly deserves this opportunity and has our utmost support moving forward.

“While we share our fans’ disappointment that we won’t see Macaulay in the black and white next season, we’d like to reassure them that this deal represents excellent value for the club – and that we have, of course, been factoring his potential departure into our plans as we look to build a highly-competitive squad this summer.

“We should also all take collective pride in the part we’ve played in giving Macaulay the platform to step out of non-league and move into the second tier – a trajectory that only reflects well on us as a club.”

Head coach Stuart Maynard saw enough in his few months working with Langstaff to ask him to be the captain of his team moving forward. However, there remained a sense of inevitably regarding a future departure with Maynard now placing his faith in others to pick up the mantle.

He added: “While we would have all loved to have kept him, his goal return was always going to make that incredibly difficult and it wouldn’t have been right for anyone to stand in his way.

“I’ve no doubt Macca will be a huge success at Millwall. He brings so much more than just goals – he’s ferocious in the press, tactically astute and a leader, hence my decision to give him the armband.

“He will, of course, be a big miss for us – but we have lots of talented attacking players in the squad who are ready to step up to the plate.”