City Secure Striker on Long Term Contract

City have secured the signature of Cheltenham Town forward Rob Street, on a four year deal.

Street started his career at Premier League side Crystal Palace, coming up through the youth ranks at Selhurst Park. During his time with the Eagles, he spent time on loan with Torquay United, Newport County and Shrewsbury Town, before opting to join Cheltenham Town on a permanent deal last summer.

Although his goal scoring record isn’t the greatest, it’s worth noting that during his time with Shrewsbury and Cheltenham, he’s struggled for service in sides further down the division, playing a different type of football to the one Michael Skubala likes to deploy. From what I’ve seen of Street, he’s very energetic off the ball, so you could liken him to Ben House, and with our style if House was to get injured or we need another option off the bench to freshen things up, then Street is perfect for that as well for being House’s long term successor with that four year contract.

It’s a smart piece of business by City, especially with the comments from Cheltenham fans about the fee. This signing now gives us five strikers, with Tyler Walker, House, Freddie Draper and Jovon Makama all contracted to the club. Could we keep them all? Yes. Will we? Probably not. I’d expect Makama to go out on loan as this will be an important campaign for him to get experience but if we don’t get injuries then he’ll struggle for that regular game time that he needs to develop. Makama leaving will leave you with Street, House, Draper and Walker. That’s not a bad selection of strikers at all.

After signing for the Imps, Street told the club: “I cannot wait to play in front of these fans – I’ve played here twice before and it’ll be brilliant to have the 617 Squadron and the rest of the supporters right behind me. I’ll give them 100% in every game.

“Lincoln City is an ambitious club, which was really evident with the approach in the second half of last season, and it was clear after speaking to the head coach that there’s a desire to maintain that momentum. I want to be a part of that.”

Head coach Michael Skubala said: “Rob will add quality and depth to our forward options, which we will need to compete on all fronts next season. He has strength, pace, athleticism and physicality, plus the technical attributes to score goals. Rob now needs to convert potential into consistent performances and we think that we can help him to do that in our environment. He is a really strong signing for the club.”

Director of football Jez George added: “We have tracked Rob for two years. We retained our interest in Rob despite a tough time for him last season and we were able to get this deal done because of those circumstances.

“Rob’s goal stats belie his qualities, and we are more interested in his underlying metrics and data which fit our profile for this position. Rob has a unique combination of attributes which makes him a really exciting prospect.

“This is our type of ‘under the radar’ signing and the length of contract demonstrates our belief in Rob. He knows all about League One, he is ready to contribute immediately and he has the elite mentality required to maximise his undoubted potential.”