It was announced this afternoon that ex-Imp Tyler Walker will leave Coventry City at the end of his current contract via the club’s official retained list.
It’s that time of year again when everyone will be talking about the prospect of Tyler Walker returning to Lincoln City and while this summer, it looks more feasible than others with the end of his Coventry contract, I thought I’d take a look at three reasons why Walker probably won’t be heading to Sincil Bank this summer.
#3 Mark Kennedy
I think any manager would look at Walker and know that there is a good player in there. Two really good goalscoring seasons at League One and League Two level are there to prove it. He may have struggled of late, but if you can give him regular football and he stays relatively injury free, then he’ll be firing. Mark Kennedy knows a good player when he sees one, and he’ll be well aware of Walker’s availability this summer so it wouldn’t surprise me if his name was on some sort of long list of potential summer targets. However, I think our change in management a little over a year ago would damage our chances in a potential pursuit of the striker.
Walker played the majority of his football at City under Michael Appleton and it was clear the striker respected him highly looking at his performances in his five-month spell at Sincil Bank. Walker’s next move needs to get his career back on track, so he needs to score goals. Going back to a manager that he knows and a style of play he knows he can fit in could be the difference between a successful spell in League One and an unsuccessful one. Walker could fit in at City but with all of the 19/20 playing squad gone, Walker wouldn’t be coming back to familiar surroundings at all.
#2 Ben House
The next reason I don’t think Walker would come back to City is Ben House. I personally think we will find it difficult this summer to bring in an established number nine like Walker with House still at the club. We played a one-striker formation last season almost every game and House was one of our most important players. He can score goals and offers more than anyone we could bring in would off the ball. Tom Hopper struggled to compete with House and Plange couldn’t even get a look in at times, Walker doesn’t need that.
Every team needs competition and I really hope we get a quality option to compete with Ben this summer but I think that option will either be a name we’ve never heard of or Cole Stockon. The links to Stockon kill this theory a little bit but I think Walker will be looking to go to a team that is desperate for a number nine, we aren’t. We have House, who can not only score but really fits our style off the ball, from what I remember, I don’t think Walker would fit into the pressing style of play the way Ben does, so it’s likely to look elsewhere.
#1 Wages
I don’t know what wages Walker was on at Coventry exactly, but from what I’ve heard they were Championship level wages and I can’t look past that. Walker has done well at this level previously, but I think signing him still poses a risk and a big one at that. He had that awful loan spell at Portsmouth in 2022 and his work ethic at Coventry was questioned a few times too. Bringing in a player like that on big wages would be a risk and not one that I think we would take.
We are clever with our business and I imagine we have some sort of wage structure in place. If Walker, or any player for that matter, asks for wages that would ruin that structure, I think we’d back off and look for other options. We need to find the new ‘Tyler Walkers’ of the world and develop them into players that we can sell on into the Championship. Look at Fleetwood, Jayden Stockley and Jack Marriott came in on big wages, they’ve done okay but Ben House has done better, bringing in a proven player isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, especially if they are on big money.
Overview
Let me make this clear, If we signed Walker this summer I’d be delighted but for once I wanted to give some reasons why we wouldn’t sign him to balance your opinion. He’ll have plenty of options and I’d be surprised if we weren’t keeping an eye on the situation along with other options. Who knows? Maybe I’ll jinx the whole thing and he’ll be announced this time in a month, I certainly wouldn’t complain but don’t be disappointed if we don’t get the Walker reunion we’ve been dreaming about for years.