City have been linked with a move for 27-year-old Irish striker Aaron Drinan, but don’t get too excited.
We’ve been linked to him by SportsBoom, who have linked us to a few people recently. Specifically, they’ve had us interested in Millwall skipper Shaun Hutchinson and Blackburn Rovers youngster Jake Batty, neither of whom we actually signed. They also failed to link us to Dexter Lembikisa on September 1st, instead insisting Stockport, Huddersfield, and Luton wanted him, when the deal with us was virtually done.
Still, it’s a story, so we’ll cover it for you.
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Aaron Drinan
Drinan began playing football at the age of four with Carrigaline United before progressing through the youth systems of Cobh Ramblers and Cork City. At Cork, he won the Under-19 league title in 2015, featured in the UEFA Youth League, and made his first senior squad appearance in 2017. Later that year, he joined Waterford, scoring once in five games as the club secured the League of Ireland First Division title.
In January 2018, Drinan moved to Ipswich Town for a reported £90,000. Over the next two years, he gained experience through a series of loan spells. He played for Sutton United in the National League, returned briefly to Waterford, where he scored seven goals in 18 matches, spent time in Sweden with GAIS, and finished with Ayr United in Scotland, where he scored twice in nine games.
Drinan made his Ipswich debut in September 2020 in the EFL Cup, later scoring his first goal in January 2021 against Crewe Alexandra. He totalled 24 appearances during the 2020–21 season, but with opportunities limited, he left the club in June 2021.
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He then signed for Leyton Orient, where he spent three years and earned a contract extension in 2022. In February 2024, Drinan moved to Swindon Town. He quickly became a regular and, after being offered new terms at the end of the 2024–25 season, committed to a fresh two-year deal in June 2025.
Viable?
I’m saying no. There are multiple reasons. At 27, he doesn’t exactly fit the profile we’ve recruited recently. We’ve either gone for experience in players who have ‘been there, done that’ or younger players on a four-year deal representing a possible sell on. Drinan falls in the cracks of that strategy, and while it’s a ‘never say never’ approach we seem to have, it just doesn’t fit.
Also, our recruitment is usually done long-term, so just because he’s had a good start to the season wouldn’t make us interested. He scored three in 34 last season, five in 32 the year before and three in 37 the year before that. That’s 11 in 103 outings, almost all with a League Two outfit.
This just doesn’t feel very Lincoln City, and when you consider Exeter City, Wimbledon and Barnsley are also linked, it just smells a lot of ‘click on me’ rather than being a rumour of substance. He could have fallen on our radar during his time in Ireland, but I’d wager he’s not been on it for some time.