Tyler Walker scored 16 goals in just half a season with Lincoln City, but then played six matches in a two-season stay when he returned.
He left the Imps at the end of last season, moving to Barrow, but sadly, injury has robbed him of his attributes, and he’s now been released by the relegated side after a single season.
Walker scored twice for Barrow last season, playing 20 times, but it takes his total since being recalled by Nottingham Forest in January 2020 to 16 – the same number he scored for the Imps during his explosive loan spell.
Walker arrived on loan from Nottingham Forest in August 2019 after a long pursuit by Danny Cowley, and his impact was immediate. Sharp movement, intelligent runs and ruthless finishing quickly made him the focal point of a Lincoln side adapting to League One football. He opened his account in the 4-0 win against Southend and went on to score crucial goals against the likes of Sunderland and Ipswich, hitting 14 league goals in 29 appearances before Forest recalled him in January 2020.
After an injury-hit spell at Coventry City, he returned permanently to the Bank in 2023, but injuries prevented him from recreating the form of his first spell. Just six appearances, and a string of injuries kept him out of action, with a brief return seeing him play a single game against Portsmouth between August 2023 and December 2024. He appeared once more, against Morecambe in the EFL Trophy, before a loan spell at Wealdstone, disrupted by injury.
His time at Barrow was similarly disrupted, scoring in August, but then sitting out between October and February. In a cruel twist of irony, he did score in a 2-1 defeat at Shrewsbury, a game in which Anthony Scully also scored, another once-dangerous Lincoln City striker who has struggled with injury since moving on.
Walker finished the season at Barrow as a bit-part player, and will now face a struggle to convince an EFL side of his value, given his awful injury record. Even so, supporters never forgot the original version of Walker, the striker who made goals look effortless and briefly lit up Sincil Bank during a difficult transitional period for the club.