"I'm disappointed with the way they've handled it" - Millington unhappy at Port Vale's comments over Jesse Debrah signing

Debrah signed a two year deal with The Valiants this week, ending a summer-long search for a new club for the defender.

But in their announcement of the deal, Vale director of football David Flitcroft took a swipe at The Shaymen's treatment of Debrah while he was injured towards the end of last season.

He said: "Jesse has been assessed for a number of weeks after a poor rehabilitation programme, but our medical team has worked tirelessly to improve and develop all of Jesse’s physical metrics and a huge thank you to them for getting us to this position to make this signing happen."

But Millington criticised the comments when speaking to the Courier after last night's 3-2 defeat at Chesterfield.

"I felt that was really poor and maybe there's an agenda behind that type of announcement," said the Town boss.

"I thought it showed a bit of a lack of class if I'm honest but what I can tell you is that, out of all of our squad, there's only one player who isn't in full training at the moment and that's Festus Arthur, who's had a ruptured Achilles and he's months ahead of schedule.

"Aaron Scholes, who runs our physio department and does all of our player injuries and rehab is doing an outstanding job and I think it was a real poor way to push a political agenda.

"Listen, we've got no control over how other clubs behave but that's certainly not something we would do."

The fee for Debrah will be decided by a tribunal, Millington confirmed, but he is unsure of the details as yet, including any sell-on clauses.

"I'm made up for Jesse, I think it's about time he got the opportunity and I think playing in a team who are top-half of League One is exactly where he should be," Millington said.

"I'm over the moon for him because he deserves every success. You couldn't meet a better person, he's fantastic.

"It's tinged with a slight bit of disappointment because I think Port Vale have cheapened the whole process with some of the things they've said in public, completely unnecessary, and I'd argue in many respects untrue.

"So I'm disappointed with the way they've handled it but I'm absolutely delighted for Jesse that he's got the opportunity and hopefully he'll quickly be in the team."