A story emerged this week that Jamie McDonnell, Oxford United midfielder, was a target for a Championship club, and Lincoln City fans suggested it should be us.
Oxford are in a bit of trouble, under a transfer embargo after overspending to try to stay up. The report suggested it meant a fire sale, but I wonder if it means the opposite: if you can’t sign players, are you more likely to sell, or less likely?
It seems the media do love the bandwagon, and now Preston have been linked with a move for another United player, Stanley Mills. Pete O’Rourke has suggested other Championship clubs are also in the hunt. He has also not travelled with the team to Spain, and that piqued my interest.
Why? Because Stanley Mills is as close to the profile of a Lincoln City winger as you could possibly get.
Who is Stanley Mills?
Mills is still only 22, but he already has useful experience in both League One and the Championship. After spells in the academies at Leeds United and Everton, he made his senior debut for the Toffees in 2022 before joining Oxford United on loan the following summer.
That first spell at Oxford was cut short by a serious knee injury, but the club brought him back permanently in January 2025. He went on to establish himself in the Championship, making 35 appearances in all competitions during the 2025/26 campaign.
Despite Oxford’s relegation, Mills was named their Player of the Season. That recognition suggests he was one of the few players to emerge with his reputation strengthened, while his age means there should still be plenty of improvement to come.
Why do I think he’d be good for us?
The name Stanley Mills first came up in conversation with an Imps staff member a few years ago, when he was at Everton. I think he was mentioned as a possible loan, which never panned out, but his name has kept cropping up. The Leeds / Skubala link was hard to ignore, and after only a handful of appearances in 2024/25, I even heard him mentioned as a possible replacement for Jovon Makama. Sadly, Makama left and, like one-time target Max Conway from Bolton, Mills forced himself into the Oxford side and stayed there.
Everything about him fits Lincoln City. His age is perfect, and with Oxford being relegated, we now offer something special: Championship football. I don’t know if he is on our lists, but O’Rourke suggests he’s interesting to teams at our level, including Preston. That points to his Championship quality, and his 32 outings last season cement this.
We’d be talking £1m plus, I believe, but we were talking that for Barney Stewart and Luke Graham, so we’d be unlikely to baulk at it. Wages would be the biggest issue, one would imagine, but that, again, is the order of the summer, is it not? Mills, to me, feels like an achievable target.
Then there is the possibility of us already having a relationship. Let’s assume he was a target a couple of years ago, and again last summer. It’s possible he’s had the presentation; it’s possible he has seen Lincoln City before. It’s also unique in that he will have had the ‘this is where we want to be’ from two years ago and, if we went in now, he’d get the ‘this is where we are now, look, we did what we said’ tale. That would put us at an advantage in one respect, even if we lagged behind in others.
Finally, profile. Why do I like Mills? Well, he’s quick, he likes to beat players, and he came back from a pretty nasty injury to be just as good as he was before. He’s a hard-working winger, not just an attacking force with pace, but an unbelievable hard worker, very high up in terms of defensive actions for his position in the Championship.
That, combined with his Everton background, makes him quite unique. He has that star quality, that little bit of something special that a Premier League background brings, but with an unbelievable work ethic and unique skillset.
What do the numbers say?
I don’t just ‘like’ Mills because I’ve seen him play. I like him because he is just so Lincoln City, and the numbers back that up. He is not simply a winger who waits for the ball and tries to produce something around the penalty area. His game is built around repeated involvement, carrying possession forward and then working hard to regain it when his team lose the ball.
Here are some key numbers, and remember, these are Championship numbers, proven actions at a level we are set to compete at.
Mills completed 106 progressive runs during the 2025/26 Championship season, averaging just over three per 90 minutes. That is perhaps the clearest indication of the threat he poses. He wants to collect the ball and move his side up the pitch, rather than simply recycling possession or relying on somebody else to find him in the final third.
There is an obvious directness to his game. Across 3,100 minutes, he attempted 182 dribbles and was successful with 67 per cent of them. That works out at more than five dribbles per 90, with roughly three and a half ending successfully. Defenders know he is going to attack them, but the numbers suggest they still struggle to stop him.
His 293 attacking duels tell a similar story. Mills is regularly involved in the physical and technical contests that define a winger’s performance, winning just over half of them. He is not drifting through matches or relying on the occasional flash of quality. He is constantly looking to engage his opponent, take possession in dangerous areas and force something to happen.
That intent produced 92 touches inside the penalty area, 63 shots, and 35 shot assists. The final return was three goals and four assists, which does leave room for improvement, but the underlying figures are encouraging. His expected assist total from the right wing was 4.84, suggesting his four assists were broadly in line with the quality of chances he created. He also recorded 3.69 expected goals from that position, compared to three goals scored.
The most attractive part of the data might be what happens when his team do not have possession. Mills contested 223 defensive duels across the campaign and won 55.6 per cent of them. For a player operating primarily on the right wing, that is a healthy level of defensive involvement.
He also made 106 interceptions and recorded 163 recoveries in the opposition half. That latter figure stands out. Mills does not merely retreat into his position once possession has been lost. He presses, competes and tries to win the ball back high up the pitch. Almost 55 per cent of those opposition-half recovery attempts were successful, giving his side opportunities to attack before their opponents could reset.
That does sound like a player who would fit right in at Lincoln. There were also 42 clearances and 12 sliding tackles, further evidence that he is prepared to do the less glamorous work. His defensive output from the right wing amounted to 6.38 successful actions per 90, alongside 10.33 successful attacking actions. That balance is important. City would not be signing a luxury player who needs to be carried when the ball goes the other way.
Conclusion
If we were in for Stanley Mills, a lot would be against us. The fact that other Championship clubs want him would make it tougher, and even if he knows of us and has seen the project, he may see Lincoln City as similar to Oxford United last season and steer clear of a relegation battle. Would that be guaranteed at Preston? Maybe, maybe not, but there would be more barriers to us signing Mills than Stewart or Graham, and that makes it tough.
Also, there is no guarantee that he is leaving Oxford United. He’s a big asset, and whatever the situation with their embargo, they’ll hope to be top six next season in League One. They’ll need their top players, and while they’re not able to sign, they’re not a crisis club in collapse.
That said, Stanley Mills is just right for Lincoln City in 2026/27. He’s experienced in the Championship, he’s good, but he grafts. He’s young and has resale value, and in terms of purchase price, he probably falls into the sort of area we might find achievable.
As I have said, this isn’t a precursor to any news. I don’t know if we’re one of those Championship clubs; there is no foreshadowing going on here. I just saw he might be on the move, and of all the players we have been linked with, were we to be linked with him as well, he’d be my favourite of the lot.
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