Former Lincoln City striker Jovon Makama has earned his first England Under-21 call-up after being named in Lee Carsley’s squad for this month’s friendlies against Portugal and France.
Both games are at Ashton Gate, with Portugal up first on Friday 13 November and France following on Monday 16 November. Arsenal’s Max Dowman also gets his first call-up, but it’s Makama’s name Lincoln fans will be looking for when the teams are announced. England have already qualified for next summer’s European Championship, so there’s a chance for Makama to make an impression before Carsley picks his tournament squad.
A broken foot in February cost the Norwich City forward a place in the spring squad. He’d scored ten goals in 28 Championship appearances in his first season at Carrow Road, and Carsley rang him after the injury to make sure he knew he’d been in his plans.
“I wanted him to know that he would have been in the squad and it’s important that he knew that,” Carsley said ahead of England’s game against Moldova at Carrow Road in the spring. He felt what Makama was doing for Norwich would translate to international football.
Now, having made his first start of the season against Portsmouth last month, the 22-year-old gets the chance to show it.
We had a fair few debates about Makama when he was coming through here. He joined us at 15 after leaving Derby County and made 42 of his 79 League One appearances off the bench. By the time he moved out to the right in his final season, we were seeing a player who could take a game away from a side. Bristol Rovers found that out when he put three past them in March 2025. He finished that campaign as our top scorer with 11 goals and left with 97 senior appearances and 15 goals for the Imps.
His move to Norwich in August 2025 set a Lincoln City transfer record, with the fee believed to be around £1.5m up front, with add-ons and a sell-on clause. Whether international recognition triggers a payment is unclear; I’m but fans will be more interested in seeing what he does with the opportunity, having watched him go from a lad getting minutes off the bench to a player we could build an attack around.
There could be a reunion at Sincil Bank in December, when Norwich come to us in the Championship. Before that, he’ll have the Three Lions on his chest, something one or two of us predicted one night in the Ivy Club in Wragby, much to the chagrin of one of the other locals.
Turns out, we were right, Dad.
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