Credit: Graham Burrell – Lincoln City Vs Sunderland 2020, Jack Diamond Started For The Opposition.
It is being widely reported that City are close to the signing of newly promoted Championship side Sunderland forward Jack Diamond on a season-long loan deal.
I mentioned Diamond as a potential target back earlier in the window as I was aware that he could be available on loan after Sunderland’s promotion. I obviously had no idea that we would be interested but I have known about Diamond for a long while and he is a quality League One player. He has spent a few years at Harrogate Town and he has been instrumental in them getting promoted and staying in League Two for the last few years.
He has featured ninety-three times for Harrogate contributing with seventeen goals. He has struggled to cement a spot at Sunderland but he has featured twenty-seven times for the Black Cats, with twenty-three of them appearances coming in the 20/21 campaign. Imps fans will remember him from our heavy loss that season at home against Sunderland, where he scored and won a penalty for his Sunderland side.
Mark Kennedy said after the game on Saturday that we had a target close but he was on his club’s bench at the weekend. I looked to Alex Gilbey first but now I’ve looked Diamond was part of the Sunderland matchday squad. The move looks likely to go through considering it is being widely reported despite the managerial changes at Sunderland in the last few days.
Some have mentioned a potential swap deal with Scully, that looks extremely unlikely but it may be a case of us favouring a deal with Sunderland for Scully because of our deal with Diamond. However, I don’t think we would accept a lower price for Scully because we have a loan deal in place for Diamond. I expect the deals to be separate (that is if Scully is to leave) rather than be a swap like some are suggesting and speculating.
Hopefully Diamond can be the first of a few deals completed in the next few days as we should be bolstering an already talented squad in order to be comfortably safe from the drop zone.