The Imps are said to be ‘monitoring’ Tayo Edun’s situation at Blackburn amid reports he is to be allowed out on loan this winter.
Lancs Live claim that we are one of a number of clubs eyeing a move for Tayo, including Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton Athletic, Oxford United and MK Dons. There’s also interest from an unnamed Portuguese club, but nothing is due to happen quickly – he’s likely to be involved in the club’s FA Cup Third Round fixture this weekend against Norwich City. Any deal after that will be a loan – he’s contracted to the club until 2024, and has appeared 32 times for them since leaving Sincil Bank last season.
How likely is a move? When names like Sheff Weds and Charlton get mentioned, we would seem to be down the pecking order, but it’s no secret Tayo enjoyed his time here. He turned down Peterborough whilst playing here, so he does have some idea of where he wants to play, and I was told when he left that he liked the club and would have stayed had we been promoted. Obviously, he wants to play as high as he can, and therefore he’ll be keen to impress and have another stab at Blackburn or engineer a move within the Championship next season. That might favour the Owls, as they’re likely to be around the promotion race come May, and if he went there and impressed, it would stand him in better stead for a permanent move. Also, he may have enjoyed his time at Lincoln, but that was under Michael Appleton, and the team has changed a lot since then.
Also, there’s a question over whether we need him, as we have two left-backs, Jamie Robson and Sean Roughan. My gut feeling is we might recruit in that area this window – having gone to a 3-4-3, wingbacks are a big part of what we do. Mark Kennedy has already spoken of Roughan being a great defender but needing a little work going forward. Could the long-term plan be for him to sit on the left of the three and for a new left-back to come in? Also, whilst Jamie Robson hasn’t done badly, he hasn’t made the left-back spot his own, as Tayo did back in 2020/21. Finally, with Matty Virtue injured, we could be looking to Tayo to fill the midfield position, depending on how long the Blackpool loanee is out.
Of course, we could well be looking for a more permanent left-back option, given that, at present, we have five loan players. Also, if we did go for a loan, would we be better off going for someone like Harry Boyes, recently recalled by Sheffield United from Forest Green, who would likely cost less in wages, and has been playing League One football for the last six months? Or, would fans like the shot-in-the-arm that a returning Tayo would give, no matter how fleeting his return? We didn’t get much chance to watch him in action, nor to say goodbye, and a swansong back in red and white would make a nice finish to the story, should he then go and cement his deserved place in a Championship team.
Of course, the Lancs Live report could just be throwing our name in there without any real basis, and Tayo might not be on our radar at all.
Tayo appeared 59 times for the Imps, starting 46 League One matches in total. He scored against Liverpool in the League Cup, as well as bagging two in the league, against Gillingham on the opening day of last season, and Wimbledon the season prior. He was sent off once for the Imps, against Gillingham in 2019/20, and appeared in both play-off semi-final matches against Sunderland, and the final against Blackpool.
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