Akinde update in itself is crucial -the latest

The news has broken officially this morning that City have placed a bid for John Akinde, something which in itself is telling.

Michael Hortin officially broke the news that has been doing the rounds over the weekend, revealing the club had a record bid accepted and that it was now in the player’s hands. Whilst many thought they knew the news already, both the timing and the official release is incredibly important.

As many of you guessed, I knew about this a couple of days ago, that the bid was set to be a club record and that location alone was the major stumbling point of the deal. That knowledge was something shared with me on Saturday, strictly between me and the person who told me. I was pretty much told exactly what Michael broke this morning.

Now, ask yourself this. If the situation was exactly the same as Saturday, why would the club want to officially break that news? With the squad away in Spain too, it would seem an odd time to release news of a club-record bid for a player, would it not? Has there been a development in the interim period that has allowed the news to be made more public?

Another interesting point is Michael’s tweet about timescales. He’s seems to indicate that we could hear more in the next day or two, something at odds with the situation at the weekend. Back then, it was purely a waiting game with no solid timescale in place. Now, the ever-reliable BBC Radio Lincolnshire team have openly put an expected time on things. Knowing the way they operate, above-board and only when they’re sure of something, I would be surprised if it didn’t mean there had been developments.

Any move for John Akinde elevates us, in my opinion, alongside Notts County and Mansfield as making a serious statement of intent for the coming season. The club’s current record purchase is Tony Battersby at £75,000, shared with Dean Walling. That means that a move for Akinde is likely to be higher than that, with some elements on social media stating up to £150,000. I don’t know what the fee is, but it would be a big commitment by the club, the board and everyone involved if we were to spend such a big fee on one player.

This isn’t any player though, is it? It’s big John Akinde, a target man you can play long to, or play into feet. He’s mobile and tricky, something we’ve lacked in a target man. That’s no disrespect to Matt Rhead, he’s been superb for us, but Akinde is a different prospect. The goal he scored against us in January showed great talent, precision shooting after tying our defence in knots.

Our previous record signing, Tony Battersby, has been at the top of the expenditure records for nearly two decades – Picture by Graham Burrell

I’m now as ‘in the know’ as all of you, the details I was holding on to are out there in the public domain and perhaps I’m reading more into what has been said and why than is relevant, but I have to feel that breaking news of the bid officially is a precursor to him either getting on board the Lincoln Loco, or turning us down.

I hope it is the former, John Akinde would be a superb fit at the club, he’d link up with Matt Green excellently, one the runner in behind and the other the target man with options. In reality we only need to find ten additional goals to last season, ten goals that turn four draws into wins and give us the eight points we need to finish third. Between John Akinde and Bruno Andrade I think that would be possible, even after losing Ollie to Crawley.

John Akinde wouldn’t be the final piece of the jigsaw, but it would be like finding the box with the picture on it and suddenly realising where all the pieces fit. Once we get the target man, the rest of the summer recruitment would be significantly easier in terms of budget, playing style and attracting quality names.

 

 

5 Comments

  1. I was told he did not to come this far north, so it will be interesting to see what has developed.

  2. Not bothered if he comes or not…. It’s 3 hours max from London! Snowflake …. rather have someone who wants to be here! See it will be a case of train on your own in London and pop up for a session or two a week…. Professional footballers??? Dear me!

  3. If it was a simple toss-up between us & him staying at Barnet it would be a no brainer. The stalling is to give his agent time to line up a few options. If his agent is successful & finds one or two interested parties that will match the fee, the move is off imo.
    Let’s hope his agent has a stinker & it’s just us!

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