City have been linked with a move today for League Two midfielder Alistair Smith from Sutton United by journalist Pete O’Rourke for Football Insider.
Smith is a bright young midfielder that was a key part of a Sutton United team last season that finished mid-table in League Two. Smith was one of the team’s most important players, registering five goals and three assists in 35 games for the League Two outfit. Despite suffering with injury, he won Young Player of the Season at Sutton and helped save their season following a return to the team after an injury that kept him out for a few months.
Smith started his professional journey nearby to us, at local rivals and League Two side Mansfield Town. During his tenure with the Stags, he had loan spells with Loughborough Dynamo, Frickely, Altrincham, and Kettering before permanently moving away to Sutton United in the summer of 2021, in perhaps what was his most important career move. Since leaving Mansfield, Smith has gone on to earn himself the reputation of a top midfield player at League Two level, scoring 14 goals across two seasons, which is an impressive return for a midfielder.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoals from midfield will be high up on the list of things that we need to concentrate on this summer and Smith could be a real game-changer for us. Max Sanders, Ethan Erhahon, Matty Virtue, Lasse Sorensen* and Ted Bishop* (*when in midfield) scored a combined five goals from midfield areas (Sanders 1, Erhahon 0, Sorensen 0, Virtue 3, Bishop 1). So to think that our midfielders from last season only scored five from midfield areas, it’s key we get players this summer that can score from deep, and Smith is just that. He managed five last season, which matches our midfielders’ return, even with injury and the season before that he managed nine. For me, he looks like an upgrade on Sanders and if Smith comes into the squad, I think he adds quality and improves the side.
I’ve done some research, as I’m later to this news than many to add some more information to the article and he isn’t just a goal-scoring midfielder. He has it all, he can pass, shoot and also defend well having played slightly deeper at times a few times throughout his career. At 6″1, he doesn’t get bullied off the ball, but his height doesn’t affect the way he plays, he strikes me as quite similar to Erhahon in terms of build too, which means he will be quite strong and have the ability to hold off a player.
It’s very easy to hype up a player that we are linked with, but twenty minutes of research has got me thinking that he is an extremely talented young lad. At 24 years old, he’s still got room to grow and progress and even at that age, he has 91 senior appearances and is already a player that will come into our squad and improve us. I think he’d be an upgrade on Sanders and potentially even Sorensen, as a midfielder. Liam Scully’s comments about the top 6 aim made a lot of people think about transfer fees, investing big money into the squad etc, and yes we do need that in some ways to get to the next level, but by signing players like Smith on a free transfer, we limit the amount of money we need to spend. A player on a free transfer from League Two isn’t going to make people think we are favourites for promotion, but people underestimated the free transfer of Paudie O’Connor last season from a League Two side and look at the way he has impacted us. If we sign Smith, then I think we’ve been very smart indeed.
Now I’ve hyped him up, he’ll probably sign for someone else, but more news and updates will be available here over the summer, up the Imps!