The Imps have been credited with an interest in Irish attacking midfielder Jack Moylan by the Irish Independent.
Moylan is a bright and young attacking midfielder, with an eye for goal having already scored eight this season in 24 games alongside two assists. Moylan, who comes from Killbarrick in North Dublin, and he received a lot of praise throughout his youth career, which saw him make his breakthrough into the Bohemian’s first team, featuring in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division campaign in 2021, before moving to Wexford on loan, where he really caught the eye.
His notable spell with Wexford in the 2021 season led to his purchase by Shelbourne. As an attacking midfielder, he made a strong impression during his loan stint at Wexford, scoring seven goals in 14 appearances from the attacking midfield position. He also showcased his talent at U17 and U19 international levels too.
The 21-year-old’s contract is due to expire at Shelbourne in December at the end of the Irish season, which leaves the Irish club in a difficult situation. If they sell now, they get a fee for the player but if they don’t sell now, they lose him for free at the end of his contract. This represents an interesting opportunity for us, as we could potentially secure an extremely talented player at a cut-price fee.
We’ve had plenty of success from the Irish market in the past, last summer we secured Danny Mandroiu from Shamrock Rovers for a small undisclosed fee, and he really started to perform in the second half of last season. Dylan Duffy has come in and shown that he can play League One football too, after signing in January from the University of College Dublin as well as Sean Roughan, who we brought in at a young age to play for our academy before coming into the first-team and becoming a crucial player.
We also appear to have lots of trust in the Irish top division too, with Drogheda taking and developing four of our players in the past on loan. Sam Long and Sean Roughan both had good spells over there in 2022, allowing the latter to break back into the first-team picture under the new manager and go on to play over 30 games. 2023 saw Drogheda loan Freddie Draper and Elicha Ahui, the former really impressed winning POTM and being the club’s top goalscorer when he was recalled by the Imps to sign a new deal and depart on loan to League Two side Walsall, for a step-up in quality. Elicha Ahui also impressed and is now on the fringes of the Imps’ first team as we assess him in pre-season.
Moylan would certainly fit the trend of previous business done by the club, and he would potentially cover a few parts of our recruitment plan. Although he has been primarily playing as an attacking midfielder, he can also operate off both wings as well as performing a deeper midfield role. It would also be worth noting, he also played in our 3-4-3 system in one of the midfield positions this season.
It would be interesting to see where Moylan fits in considering we don’t primarily play with an attacking midfielder, my feeling is we’d see him as someone to play in our front-three as our wingers are quite narrow due to the nature of having attacking wing-backs although we may choose to play him as a more attacking option alongside Ethan Erhahon.
Obviously rumours and rumours, but this is one that I think would potentially happen, considering our Irish links previously.