8: Max Sanders
Lincoln City league record: 57 appearances, 1 goal.
On the face of it, 57 league appearances and one goal during a difficult period does not look like the record of one of Lincoln City’s worst EFL-era transfers. The disappointment comes from the expectations surrounding Max Sanders when he arrived from Brighton and Hove Albion. He was presented as one of their more promising young players and appeared capable of becoming the spiritual successor to Liam Bridcutt. He joined during the winter window of 2020/21 alongside Morgan Rogers, Cohen Bramall and Regan Poole, but he was the one addition from that group who never truly landed.
Sanders struggled to establish himself under Michael Appleton, and his comments about only appreciating the distance to Lincoln after making the train journey hardly suggested a player who felt immediately settled. He scored against Bowers & Pitsea in the FA Cup but otherwise found opportunities difficult to come by. Supporters regularly called for him to receive a chance under Mark Kennedy, only for his performances to flatter to deceive once those chances arrived. A missed penalty in his final game, after arguing over taking it, provided an unfortunate finale to a move intended to produce Championship-level development and a future profit. Instead, he quietly left when his contract expired.
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