In case it hasn’t sunk in yet, Lincoln City will be a Championship side next season, but what does that mean in terms of player recruitment? As per the Opta league power rankings, the second tier is the ninth-best league in the world, whereas League One sat forty-second in the list. Quite the jump, writes Olly Burton.
What all this means is that more leagues will now be accessible to The Imps, as more and more players will be attracted to join, not only from a sporting perspective but also financially. Thanks to the promotion, City will be given two more Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) slots, allowing the club to dip their toes into foreign markets once more, like they did when Erik Ring and Ivan Varfolomeev were brought to the club.
Both were signed from leagues elsewhere in Europe, but could the club look to sign players from other continents to fill these slots, and where should they be searching?
The United States
The USA seems like the perfect place to start, being the most obvious avenue for player recruitment in The Championship, considering our links to the country these days, and who better to give a good word to any potential signings than Landon Donovan, as the strategic advisor is one of the most iconic players the country has produced.
These connections aren’t the only reason why this makes sense, however, as Major League Soccer has become a popular market for Championship clubs to sign from, with some of the league’s most talked about players being recent moves from across the Atlantic thanks to its ever-increasing quality.
Ranked seventeenth in the Opta power rankings, MLS offers a high physical demand that is perhaps more suited to English football in comparison to other leagues in Europe. If we look at a few of the signings made from the league in recent seasons, they back up that claim. Strikers Daryl Dike of West Brom and Patrick Agyemang of Derby are both tall and imposing players, who have both been good players at the level, with the latter impressing in particular this season.
George Campbell, also of West Brom, has been a success story this season. The centre-back is now a full USA international and has started thirty-three out of the thirty-nine matches he has played this season after joining from CF Montreal in July. Ali Ahmed is another, the Canadian has impressed in Norwich’s 2026 revival, starting sixteen matches since his January arrival, where the winger has scored four and grabbed three assists.
Culturally of course, America is not as far apart as other nations may be. The language being an important aspect. This would allow any players to settle faster you’d imagine, meaning the return on investment would be more likely to be realised sooner. This is especially important in a signing that would be signed to come in and perform straight away.
For these reasons, it should provide a good argument to Joe Hutchinson and his recruitment team that this has been one of the more successful markets outside of Europe, and one that should be targeted. The club will have to be smart to find cost-effective additions however, as many of the MLS exports in England have cost a pretty penny, thanks to the attributes and potential many of the players possess out there.
Japan
Japan has long been ahead of the game in Asia for decades and is still on the rise as on the road to becoming of the best talent-producing nations across the globe. The J1 League is ranked twenty-second in Opta’s list, but that should not put off Lincoln City from potential signings. Though more unlikely to be on the radar of Jez George and co this summer, the Asian powerhouse offers an interesting dynamic of players that could step up to this level.
In truth, many of The Championship’s best Japanese talents have not been signed directly from Japan, but rather from other European leagues such as in Belgium or The Netherlands, where the players have had time to develop after leaving their homeland. Players such as Coventry’s Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Southampton’s Kuryu Matsuki have followed this path to success but is not to say that players can’t be fished directly from Japan’s domestic system.
Blackburn Rovers’ Yuki Ohashi is probably the most notable signing to be brought in directly from Japan, as the Striker has scored twenty goals for the club over the past two years since joining from Sanfrecce Hiroshima. Tatsuki Seko is another, playing largely all of Stoke’s matches this season, starting about half of the games in which he appeared.
Many of Japan’s top clubs enjoy continental success as a result of the talent in the country, suggesting facing teams such as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and Karim Benzema’s Al-Hilal in competitive fixtures could give any players signed from the top Japanese clubs unique experiences that could only benefit the squad.
This could be an interesting market for the club to look at, considering there are a lot of undervalued players in the continent, especially as the leagues out there are perhaps not as lucrative. I would assume it to be unlikely for The Imps to sign a Japanese player directly from Japan, but it would be something I would like to see in the future
Honourable Mention – South Korea
Sticking to the theme of Asia, South Korea is another interesting market the club could have a look at this summer, but the arguments to recruit from there are not as compelling. In many ways it is similar to Japan as one of the powerhouses of the continent, and young talent has begun to spread across many European leagues.
There have been a few decent additions in the lower half of the league, where Lincoln will most likely be competing in terms of transfers. Bae Jun-Ho at Stoke, Paik Seung-Ho at Birmingham, and Eom Ji-Sung at Swansea are all examples.
For the most part, K League exports tend to take a while to settle, as the physical demands of The Championship are massive in comparison. This has meant that most of the signings made from Korea have been in those positions where strength has been less important, such as on the wings or through the middle in a Jack Moylan-type role.
This is probably the most unlikely route for Lincoln to look down for strengthening their squad, as it is the weakest of the three nations mentioned, being ranked down in fortieth in the Opta list, below the SPFL, hence the honourable mention
Conclusion
Overall, I would suggest that Lincoln City will of course be looking abroad for players that possess attributes that would fit Championship football, but it is far more likely to be from Europe, due to cost reasons. MLS is the most likely of the leagues to be explored in my view, owing to the ties the club have with Landon Donovan, Ron Fowler and the Jabara family, who would all make it easier to forge connections with clubs in the States.
The Japanese market though exciting, is more likely to be explored via European routes as previously mentioned, as players will have had more time to get used to demands closer to England. If City were to bring in someone from the land of the rising sun, I would expect it to be through this route.
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