Who were the two Lincoln City targets?
Firstly, LASK were the team in the Austrian Cup final who won, and there were only a couple of midfielders playing that day: Sascha Horvath (30) and Melayro Bogarde (24). Saša Kalajdžić (30) played in the ten but is seen as a striker, while Christoph Lang (24) came on in the holding role but is widely seen as a forward.
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Bogarde came through Feyenoord’s academy before joining Hoffenheim in 2018, making his Bundesliga debut two years later. He also gained senior experience during loan spells with Groningen and PEC Zwolle before signing for Austrian side LASK in 2024. The Rotterdam-born 24-year-old represented the Netherlands from under-15 to under-21 level, winning the European Under-17 Championship in 2019, before making his senior international debut for Suriname in 2026.
Bogarde is a versatile, defensively minded player who has operated at centre-back, in central and defensive midfield and at wing-back. He is mainly a holding midfielder comfortable receiving and circulating possession, carries the ball when space opens up and contributes through recoveries, interceptions and challenges. He missed LASK’s 4-0 defeat against Celtic in the Champions League, but played as they won 5-1 in the second leg, and he is the nephew of former Dutch international Winston Bogarde.
The right winger is a little more challenging to find. I’m ruling out anyone with regular Bundesliga experience, as Germany’s top flight is a Band 1 league and established first-team players would ordinarily clear the 15-point GBE threshold without requiring an ESC place. Therefore, one would imagine we are looking at a 2. Bundesliga player, and after a lot of digging, I’ve come up with Emmanuel Iyoha.
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28-year-old Iyoha joined Fortuna Düsseldorf’s academy from Bayer Leverkusen in 2011 and progressed through the club’s youth ranks before signing his first professional contract. He made 145 league appearances for Fortuna during a decade with the senior side, while also gaining experience on loan with VfL Osnabrück, Erzgebirge Aue and Holstein Kiel. The former Germany under-21 international left Düsseldorf as a free agent to join 1. FC Magdeburg in July 2026.
Iyoha is a powerful and highly versatile player who has featured on both flanks as a full-back, wing-back and winger, as well as further forward. He is comfortable in possession, willing to carry the ball and capable of contributing in attacking areas, basically a lot like our players now. Crucially, and this may get a laugh, but on Football Manager, his long throw rating is 90!
Did we miss out on Iyoha and Bogarde because of the ESC rules? We’ll never really know, but it has been fun digging for the last hour.
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