Young Defender Pens New Deal
Imps’ defender Sean Roughan has extended his contract committing himself to the club until the summer of 2025.
Photo Credit: Kieran Curtis/Lincoln City FC
Imps’ defender Sean Roughan has extended his contract committing himself to the club until the summer of 2025.
It was announced on the club website this evening that Sean has chosen to stay with the club following his contract expiring at the end of last season. The young defender has been with the club for a few years now after joining the club to join up with the academy from Ireland, Sean made his debut for the club under the management of Michael Appleton in 2020 in a first-round Carabao Cup game against Crewe Alexandra at just sixteen years old. Sean continued to get first-team minutes under Appleton, featuring up until November, before losing his place to Tayo Edun.
The versatile defender was an outcast towards the end of Appleton’s time at the club and was sent to Drogheda United on loan, where he impressed and earnt himself a year extension on his contract and a chance to feature under the new management of Mark Kennedy. As a result last season, he played over thirty games as we achieved a top-half finish in League One and reached the Quater Finals of the EFL Trophy. Sean had an impressive campaign last time out, and many had expected us to lose the player with interest from a number of Championship clubs reported over the last twelve months.
Upon signing a new contract, Sean told the club’s media team: “I’m very pleased to sign a new deal, to continue my journey here and develop further as a player. The head coach and backroom put faith in me to play in 30 plus games last season, and I’ve only just turned 20, so still have time on my side – this is the best place to continue my development.”
City coach Kennedy also spoke on the contract renewal and was pleased to get it over the line: “We are pleased Sean has signed a new contract so that he can continue his development at Lincoln City. We are proud that he played so many minutes in League One last season as a teenager who has come through our Academy, while also establishing himself in the Republic of Ireland U21 team. We now want and expect him to kick on even more this season.”
Sean hasn’t been in pre-season training so far but he has been keeping fit all summer with some individual training but now with his contract situation sorted, he’ll now join up with the squad as we continue to shape our team ahead of the 23/24 campaign. It is unclear where he fits in next season, with the player claiming in an interview previously that he sees his future as a left-sided centre-half rather than a wing-back in the 3-4-3 system that was primarily used last season. He has looked competent in the back-three at times last season, and with the departures of Regan Poole and Joe Walsh, he’ll be looking to make that left-sided spot his own over the course of pre-season and in the opening fixtures.
We haven’t had much in terms of news recently, but this is a massive boost for us heading into our pre-season tour in Spain. For me, this is bigger than a signing, Sean is here to stay!
