The Imps are believed to be closing in on a deal for Halifax Town defender Jay Benn on a free transfer.
Pete O’Rourke is reporting on Twitter that the Imps have secured a deal with the 20-year-old, who saw his contract with Halifax expire at the end of the season. Benn can operate at right-back or centre-back, and certainly looks like one for the future, in the same way as Charlie Kendall and Ben House.
A majority of his performances for Halifax have come at right-back, or right wing-back, He only made his first start for the club in August, and missed much of the second half of the season. However, he was named Man of the Match on his full debut against Maidenhead, and quickly established himself as a first-team player. Sadly, he tore his hamstring in September and returned for a brief period in January playing five times. He was sent off in their FA Trophy quarter-final against Notts County for two bookable offences in February.
Heartbreak at the end, but to see this club achieve the things it achieved this year is an absolute credit to everyone from the fans to the staff. Been an up and down year for me, but has been a pleasure to wear the shirt this year and be apart of an unbelievable squad 💙 pic.twitter.com/WPMwfOvz6H
— Jay Benn (@Jaybenn00) May 25, 2022
However, he was firmly in manager Chris Millington’s plans this summer, with the former Oldham youth team manager saying: “We’ve got some interesting conversations to have because obviously Jay Benn showed what he’s capable of last season and deserves his chance,” when asked about incoming at right back. “We need to look at what the next right-back is going to have to do to complement and offer maybe some of the things that Jay doesn’t quite offer.”
My gut reaction is this feels very much like a ‘one for the future’ signing, the sort of capture up until recently, Lincoln City didn’t make. With that in mind, I don’t think we’re going to see him in the first team picture here at Lincoln, more likely he’ll be loaned out (possibly back to Halifax) and train with us where he can. That is if the rumours are accurate.