Lincoln City Linked With Surprise Move For £1m-Rated Former Loan Star

Lincoln City have been linked with a surprise move for former loanee Jack Diamond, as per Peter O’Rourke of Football Insider.

I say surprise, because while Diamond is a decent player, I didn’t expect us to be linked with him. He did score against us in Stockport’s 3-1 win earlier in the year, and he is a dangerous prospect out wide, but his previous loan spell fell flat, and was cut short early in part due to the impending court case in which he was cleared, but also our lack of knowledge of it until it popped up in the news.

Still, according to O’Rourke, City and Portsmouth are both interested in the 26-year-old, who is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract at Edgeley Park. The report claims Stockport had wanted a fee in excess of £1 million for Diamond in January, but clubs have now been alerted to the possibility of a reduced price as his deal runs down.

Diamond spent the 2022–23 season on loan at Sincil Bank from Sunderland. He made 31 league appearances for the Imps, scoring six times, and produced one of his best performances in red and white with a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers. His time with City was later cut short in March 2023 after he was charged with rape and sexual assault, charges of which he was swiftly cleared in January 2024.

Diamond has rebuilt his career since leaving Sunderland, initially with Carlisle United on loan before joining Stockport in 2024. He has become an important attacking figure for County, recording 15 goal involvements during the 2025–26 campaign.

The winger has spent much of his senior career in the lower leagues, with spells at Harrogate Town, Sunderland, Lincoln, Carlisle and Stockport. He was part of Harrogate’s rise into the EFL and has since built up considerable League One experience, while also making a small number of appearances for Sunderland in the Championship.

I’m not sure whether to put any weight behind this or not. Jack’s a decent player, and he’s built his career back up well. He’s a danger at League One level, but honestly, I don’t see us recruiting heavily from League One right now. People will assume because of his previous experience here, it is viable, but I don’t know how it was left or what the relationship is like. Diamond also drew criticism from Dave Challinor during our game for making a run and scoring an opportunistic goal, but then not making the same run when the same chance was on moments later.

It might not be a factor, but I don’t know if something like that, and his previous history here, makes us a name dropped into an article to fire further interest, rather than us showing it ourselves.