News has broken this morning that Ex-Imp Tayo Edun has been made available for loan and Blackburn Rovers will listen to offers for him in the January transfer window.
Lancashire Live revealed this morning that Rovers would listen to offers for four first-team players including Edun. Despite being an incredible servant for City, he has struggled to make an impact in Lancashire, and hasn’t featured in the Championship since September, and has only been able to appear in Carabao Cup fixtures.
Edun was a popular figure in his time with the Imps under Michael Appleton, with the full-back playing a crucial part in our play-off campaign in the 20/21 season. Edun featured sixty-four times for City in eighteen months after signing for the club in January 2020. Edun started the 21/22 season with the Imps, scoring against Gillingham on the first game of the season, but interest from a host of Championship clubs saw him depart on Deadline Day, with Jamie Robson coming in as a replacement.
With Edun available for loan, many Imps fans may be excited by the potential of him returning, and while it is unlikely with a new manager in place, here are two reasons why he may come back to Sincil Bank this winter.
#2 – Familiar Surroundings
As we all know, Edun has been with the Imps before and already knows a large majority of the squad, especially the defence having played with every defender at the club except Robson and Paudie O’Connor so fitting back in won’t be as difficult as it would be for some new signings. On top of that, Edun was a fan favourite and had respect from fans, despite a large number of his games being behind closed doors.
January signings are always a risk due to the season already being at the halfway point, which means players have next to no time to adapt, but that wouldn’t be too much of an issue for a returning player, who knows the surroundings.
#1 – The Mark Kennedy Back Five
If Mark Kennedy is set to stay with a back five, we need some attacking wing-backs to add more threat to our game. Robson and Sean Roughan have proved to be good options, but neither has provided the threat that Edun did in his time here. Even with Robson and Roughan, our wing-backs look to get forward and try to provide another option for our wingers with runs, and we are all aware of what Edun’s attacking output could add.
With the change in the system, we need to add some more attacking wing-backs on both sides and if the options are limited Edun would be an excellent option. Robson has featured forty-five times since he joined, registering just three assists and while he does add a threat, his end output can be disappointing at times, but with most of his career spent as a full-back in a four it is understandable. With Edun’s youth career spent mostly in midfield, his passing range is one of the best I’ve seen from a full-back at this level, so he could be a real game-changer in our current system.
It is rather unlikely that we see the late Christmas present of Edun returning in January, but weirder things have happened in football, and as Lincoln City fans we should all know that anything is possible.