Steve Evans reveals a big reason why Peter Kioso wanted to leave Rotherham United

The right-back was an unsettled figure in his two years at AESSEAL New York Stadium and this week had his wish to depart granted when the Millers sold him to Oxford United.

Kioso had been signed in the summer of 2022 during the reign of Paul Warne but Warne's successor, Matt Taylor, didn't believe the Irishman was up to the challenge of Championship football and sanctioned a temporary stint at League One Peterborough United.

Evans took the New York hot-seat last April for the final three matches of Rotherham's second-tier relegation campaign when the former Luton Town man was already agitating to move on.

The new boss was keen to keep the 24-year-old, who had a year left on his deal, but realised in talks during the close season that the player's heart was elsewhere.

“‘PK’ was making it clear that being shipped off to Peterborough the previous year didn't help the situation,” he told the Advertiser.

“PK made it clear he wanted to go. We didn't want it to happen, we wanted him to stay.”

Evans described the bid from Oxford, who have just been promoted to the Championship, as being in excess of £600,000 and recommended to the board that it be accepted as it represented a significant profit on the six-figure fee the Millers had paid to take Kioso from Luton.

“It's really good business for the club," the manager said.

Soon after his arrival at New York, Kioso needed surgery on a groin injury and then suffered prolonged ankle trouble after Taylor had replaced Warne.

The situation frustrated Taylor who sent him to Peterborough in the division below where he performed so well until being recalled to New York in the January transfer window that Posh made him their captain and tried to broker a permanent switch.

Evans was managing third-tier Stevenage at the time and ran into Kioso at his best. “PK was very, very good against my team last season,” he said.“We had a chat with him but he still wanted to move on. He thought the Championship was his level. In fairness to the kid, he's a really good player.

“He's gone to a really good club and they've paid a lot of money for him. As a management team, Paul (number two Raynor) and myself send him off with our very best wishes, and we can understand the circumstances.”

Kioso played for 37 minutes of Evans' first Rotherham game, a 0-0 draw with Birmingham City, before coming off with a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the loss at Bristol City and the last-day home win over Cardiff City.

In his two seasons as a Miller, he made only 24 appearances - three less than he managed in his five-month spell with Peterborough.

The defender was with Posh when Taylor was sacked and it was the next man in the Rotherham hot-seat, Leam Richardson, who brought him back to S60.

Taylor had said: “We felt it was the right thing for PK to go and play League One football and he wanted to do the same.

“With no disrespect to his game, last season we didn't have enough from him to put him as a trusted body within the squad this time around. That's why he went out on loan.

“Trust me, League One is a totally different animal to the Championship.”

Kioso, who has joined Rotherham old boy Will Vaulks at the Kassam Stadium, said on Oxford's website: “I watched a couple of the club's games last season and played against them.

“I feel like, from what I've seen from the outside, it is a family team. I want to be part of that and I feel like we can do something really special.”

The U's haven't disclosed the length of his contract.

Meanwhile, the Millers will play Newcastle Under-21s in next term’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy after the Geordie youngsters were yesterday added to the northern group containing Evans’ men, Bradford City and Mansfield Town.