City Interest In Northern Ireland International is Unfounded

It has been revealed to me by a club insider that the Imps are not currently pursuing a deal for Larne striker Lee Bonis, as has been reported recently.

The Belfast Telegraph has credited us with an interest in Bonis, which likely stems from our watching him a couple of seasons ago. However, I’m told that interest is being reported erroneously, and while we may have been in Ireland watching players, we are not pursuing a deal for the striker, who has 25 goals this season.

Part of that could be down to an elevated cost. Last year, he signed an extension to his contract with Larne after helping them to the NIFL Premiership title. That deal saw a price tag of around €300,000 (£257,000) put on his head, which put off clubs such as Portsmouth, Bolton and Derby. However, he has admitted he is hunting a move to England, which had reportedly alerted Burton and Wycombe. Those clubs have been the subject of takeovers recently, and given the fact no wage cap is coming as was expected, it’s likely some clubs will look to spend big now to beat any possible future restrictions.

As we know, Lincoln City will not do that, and if there is a big price tag on Bonis, it could start an auction that sensible clubs wouldn’t get into. Of course, it may be down to profile – with Walker, House and Draper all fit and ready next season, plus the possibility of the loan market, we may not be looking for a permanent striker at all. If we are, the profile we might want could differ from that of Bonis – there are many reasons why we might not be interested.

There’s no surprise he’s being watched though; he scored 25 goals this season as Larne bagged a second title, and he represented his country. He even appeared and scored in the Champions League, and as he’ll turn 25 before the season starts, it feels like a case of now or never for the former Portadown man.

I am told that transfers are progressing as planned, and whilst there’s no imminent movement, the club are talking to a number of different people. It feels fairly calm, with none of our top targets having currently signed elsewhere, despite Steve Evans trying to sign all of the players before the season starts. As was the case last season, I feel if we were to sign players, we might not make those announcements until they could officially be registered anyway. As we know, the club run a very tight ship nowadays, so any rumours are just going to be that; rumours.

One of those rumours we’ve at least been able to put to bed.