Premier League clubs express interest in current Imps star

It is being widely reported that Leeds and Burnley are amongst the clubs eyeing a move for our current loan star, Brennan Johnson.

In truth, this is nothing but good news for the Imps. With Brentford also being linked with interest, it seems Forest may have a battle on their hands to keep him, but none of that is our concern, What is our concern is how well he has done on loan here, and how his form in a Lincoln shirt is alerting people to his abilities.

The whole idea of a club loaning players to the likes of us is that they do well enough to either force a place in the first team at their parent club, or earn themselves a move and their club some money. Think about Joe Morrell last season – excellent for us all year, won Player of the Year and got a move to Luton Town,. Would he have got that move had he come to us and failed to impress? No. However, with good coaching and game time, he did impress.

That is a huge selling point in our club that we can directly influence, but it doesn’t happen by accident. Good players go on loan all the time, but the environment has to be right for them, the coaching has to be suitable and of course, they need chances in the side. When we provide that, it is up to them, so our recruitment needs to find players who will adapt to League One, apply themselves correctly and help us to help them. We had it with Morrell, and this season we have it with Palmer, Eyoma and Johnson too.

Credit Graham Burrell

If Leeds are interested, all it means is we have given the player everything he needs to succeed, and he has responded by rising to the occasion. I think that describes Brennan perfectly, he’s a player coming from good footballing stock (Dad David was a hell of a player in his time), who is grounded, focused and works hard. It’s a perfect storm and whilst Forest may reap the rewards in the long term, we progress in the short term. That isn’t only in terms of our league position, but also in other clubs looking at how we treat players and deeming us a suitable location for their emerging top talent.

Apologies for the misleading headline by the way, but he is a current Imps star and there is Premier League interest….