City could secure their League One status this weekend with a win against Port Vale at Sincil Bank, and other results going our way. That all means that we need to start looking towards next season, and over the course of the next few weeks I will be doing that, but in this piece, I’ll be starting with the current contract situation of the loanees at the club and if we have a chance of keeping them.
Carl Rushworth
I think we’d all love to keep Carl Rushworth at Lincoln City, he has been an incredible goalkeeper for us over the last season but after the 7th May, we will never see him in a Lincoln City shirt again you’d imagine. Carl is one of the best goalkeepers we’ve ever had, and replacing him next season will be a big ask.
Just for the point of this article, Rushworth signed a new contract with Brighton and Hove Albion in January of 2022, and that deals runs until at least the Summer of 2025 with the Premier League Club. Rushworth is widely expected to move on loan to the Championship next season, but could make a shock claim for the first team spot at Brighton, with first choice Robert Sanchez falling out of favour recently for second choice Jason Steele.
Harry Boyes
Harry Boyes has come on by leaps and bounds recently and has taken the left-wing back spot away from Sean Roughan. Boyes has been extremely impressive in our last three games, especially against Sheffield Wednesday, where he earnt the club’s official man of the match award on Twitter after the game. Boyes is on loan from Sheffield United, who look set for Premier League promotion from the Championship.
While Boyes has looked good on loan at the Imps recently, he is not ready for a Championship spell in my opinion and despite Mark Kennedy saying he wants less loan players next season, I think we could see a return of Boyes on loan. He knows the club now and knows the squad, we play a good system for him to show his attacking capabilities as wing-back. Harry coming back on loan makes sense for all parties, especially if Roughan moves on or starts to see more game time on the left hand side of the back-three.
Boyes’ current deal at Sheffield United is a long term one and was signed following his impressive loan spell with Solihull Moors last season. If Boyes was to return to Sincil Bank next season, it would most certainly be another loan move.
Tashan Oakley-Boothe
I do sometimes wonder what could’ve been for Tashan Oakley-Boothe. He really excited me when he signed for the club. He signed for the club with a decorated background for his age, he had won youth tournaments with England alongside talents such as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Phil Foden and had made a number of appearances in the Championship with Stoke City.
A really good loan spell for Tashan is what was needed to get his career back on track, but it just hasn’t worked here. While he hasn’t been the worst ever player to play for the club, he has failed to make any sort of real impact and all the midfielders at the club right now have made more of an impression. His hopes of reviving his Imps’ career were dashed when we signed more loan players in January, meaning his only chance of even making the bench was if two of them were injured or suspended. Tashan did make an appearance for us a few weeks ago against Fleetwood, but that will probably be the last time he is seen in a Lincoln City shirt, despite his contract with Stoke City ending at the end of the current 22/23 campaign.
Matty Virtue
If Matty Virtue hadn’t have got injured at the turn of the year, he’d be in the running for everyone’s player of the season, and many are hoping that we will be able to have the midfielder return to Sincil Bank next season.
I don’t like to be the deliverer of bad news but I personally don’t see Matty being a Lincoln City player next season. While his contract is ending with Blackpool, they have an option to extend his deal by an extra season and with their current situation in the Championship and looking like they will be returning to League One next season, they will likely take up the option. What they have in Matty is a League One ready midfielder for next season, which will be crucial for them with the amount of squad turnover that happens when a team gets relegated.
Even if Matty doesn’t want to return to Blackpool next season, the decision remains with the club and they’d likely exercise the option even if they didn’t want to keep him around so they could make a fee from him. If we are ambitious enough, we could make an offer to keep him but we may look for an option that doesn’t require us to pay a fee.
Mide Shodipo
Mide Shodipo has turned his loan spell around with the last few performances but the potential has been there since he arrived. Mide is an excellent footballer, and he is very forward thinking. He is exactly what we need, and it’s a shame there is only one of him in the current squad. His performance against Cheltenham when he came on was a showing of what he can do, and then he followed it up with another great performance and goal against Plymouth on Monday.
Now this is where I will probably give people false hope, Mide’s contract with QPR expires at the end of the 22/23 season, with no option to extend the deal after they exercised that option twelve months ago to keep him this season. It is very likely, especially if QPR remain in the Championship, that Mide will be on the market in the summer for a free transfer and I think we should be right in the hunt for him. With a full pre-season with Mark Kennedy and the club under his belt, he could be a real threat for us next season, so I think we have to make him a priority for a permanent deal.
It seemed likely when we signed him, he’s 25, which means he’s probably at the end of his QPR pathway, even if his contract wasn’t expiring. He has come in to impress, and he has done that recently. We could make an early statement in the summer by tying down an impressive loanee early and I really do hope we can do that.
Luke Plange
Luke Plange hasn’t had an easy spell at the Imps since signing on loan from Crystal Palace in January. With just six games to go, the striker could return to The Eagles without a single goal in his Lincoln City spell, leaving many unimpressed. That being said, I think there is a good player in there. There is a reason that Crystal Palace paid as much as they did for him from Derby but for us it just hasn’t worked at all. I think it’s fair to say we probably won’t see Luke in a Lincoln City shirt again but hopefully we get to see him a goal before he leaves at the end of the season.
So I think it is fair to say that we have a chance of seeing some of our loanees in a Lincoln City shirt but it may not be the one we were all expecting a few months ago. I think we have a good chance with Shodipo and potentially Boyes on another loan deal but the others look unlikely, which in the case of Virtue is a shame.