Free Agent Strikers

With the recent problems Simeon Akinola’s transfer faced, we’ve been left a striker short, and the only option for Danny Cowley is to bring in an out of contract player. The transfer window leaves an awful lot of footballers without a club, but is there a potential gem in amongst the has-been and never-was collection of players?

I’ve raked through the lists of free agents as listed on www.transfermarkt.co.uk and come up with a list of players that might be known to Imps fans, might do a job or might be best changing their career! I have done searches to see if the players have signed for anyone recently, or ended up in non-league, but it doesn’t appear that they have. Happy to stand corrected if that isn’t the case.

Matty Fryatt

Fryatt started out as a trainee at Walsall in 2003, and 30 goals later he began to make a name for himself. He scored 63 in all competitions during five years at Leicester before securing a £1.2m move to Hull City. Fryatt was seen as a goal scorer, a fox in the box with a bit of pace but the intuition to grab a goal from nowhere. He even managed ten Premier League appearances for the Tigers, and bagged 31 goals from 72 starts before moving on a free transfer to Championship side Nottingham Forest.

His Forest move wasn’t a success. Despite scoring six in 17 starts he was injured in March 2015 against Charlton Athletic, and spent two years on the side lines before being released this summer.

Despite his spell on the side lines he was training with Walsall in the summer, and a host of Championship clubs had been linked with him. As the dust settles though he finds himself without a club, and like Neal Eardley he might be persuaded to drop down a couple of divisions to prove himself.

Dale Jennings

I can’t help but hear ‘Too Much, Too Young’ whenever I hear the name Dale Jennings. He was the unusual talent that found himself playing for Bayern Munich after a handful of games for Tranmere. After making twenty-nine appearances for the Prenton Park side in the 2010/2011 season, Jennings earned a move to the European giants. At the time of departure he was the Football League’s reigning Young Apprentice of the Year, but just a few years later he is in the wilderness.

He struggled with the language barrier in Germany, and failed to develop at all. He spent two frustrating years nowhere near the first team before seeking a move back to England. Barnsley took him on, but that didn’t last and he was soon off again. He scored 6 from 51 outings before MK Dons took a chance on him. Karl Robinson called him a ‘wild card’, but it was one that didn’t pay off. Rumours about a lack of fitness and weight gain dogged him, and he left after one Championship appearance in 2015.

Jennings is just 24-years of age, and very much on the football scrap heap. Could the talent that lurked inside him prior to the Bayern Munich move still be there? Could he resurrect his career at Lincoln City under the watchful eye of two impressive man managers? Or, in twenty years time, will he just be another Billy Kenny or another Nii Lampety, once seemingly with the world at his feet, but never managing to fulfil that potential? I fear the latter.

Jordan Slew

Will Danny feel he needs to revisit a player he seems to have previously passed on? Jordan Slew was training with the club last month after failing to earn a deal at Mansfield, but it seems as though Danny had moved on. With the Akinola deal falling through, will Jordan be given a chance on a short-term deal?

Slew was once hot property, three goals from eight starts convinced Blackburn to splash a seven-figure sum on him. From there it really hasn’t gone well, loan spells at Ross County, Stevenage, Oldham, Port Vale, and Rotherham brought just three league goals. Ross County was perhaps the final straw for Blackburn, in 17 starts he bagged just once. A permanent move to Cambridge followed, but after one goal in 28 games he went to Chesterfield as cover for Ebanks-Blake. Once again, no goals followed and he finally moved to Plymouth Argyle last season. Finally he rediscovered some sort of form, six goals from 27 starts offering more of a repayment than at any of his other clubs. Sadly for Slew he was released at the end of the season.

I’m not sure Danny would settle for a player he’d previously passed on, even if it means going into the season one light up front. It would be quite a U-turn for City, and if we harbour ambition of signing Simeon in January it could isolate Jordan in an Imps shirt. In years gone by I have no doubt he’d already be an Imp, but Danny has a measured and calm approach to recruitment and seems unwilling to ‘take a punt’ on anyone.

Ben Hutchinson.

Yeah. Right. I would rather see us play with ten men than feature the player that dubbed us the ‘worst fans in the world’ back in 2010. Playing him up top would actually be like playing with ten men, such was his inefficiency. There is as much chance as him returning to Sincil Bank as there is me getting a run out.

Jacob Blyth

Up until early last month, Jacob Blyth had a promising football career. He was a Leicester City youth player that had loan spells across the Football League before signing for Scottish Premier League side Motherwell. He’d struggled to settle up north and managed just a handful of appearances last season. On August 8th this season pictures emerged of him inhaling Nitrous Oxide, or ‘hippy crack’ from a balloon whilst on holiday with some sort of reality TV star. Motherwell washed their hands of the 25-year old immediately.

He’s a tall lad, 6’3 that has an awful lot to prove to the world of football. However, he hasn’t failed a drugs test as such, and Danny took Brandon Ormund Ottiwell pn trial despite him being released from Swindon for the same offence. Maybe there could be a way back for Jacob Blyth yet?

Motherwell fans weren’t over-impressed with their acquisition though, many described him as a ‘shot-shy’ striker, and his style is very much like Ollie Palmer. Still, he’s a free agent and you know Danny will be turning every stone he can find to unearth the ‘fourth man’.

Reuben Noble-Lazarus

Another former child-prodigy gone awry, Noble-Lazarus became the youngest player to debut in the English Football League, at 15 years and 45 days old. However, his career faltered from there and he made just 49 appearances for Barnsley, scoring 3 times before moving to Rochdale.

He’s spent two years at Spotland, but again failed to make an impact. He was used primarily as a sub during his time there, effective as pace from the bench but poor in his nine starts. Injury hampered his time in League One, He dislocated his shoulder  which kept him side lined for months. After making his return to training in late-December he made a first team return, playing 31 minutes as a sub. However, once again he suffered a hip problem and he failed to make another appearance. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Noble-Lazarus was among eight players to be released by Rochdale, although in July 2016 he re-signed for them. Again he suffered injuries and eventually he left in July 17 with just two goals to his name.

He is primarily a winger, but his pace and direct running could be useful from the bench. Whether he can prove his fitness or his ability is another issue though, and I couldn’t see Danny bringing the likes of him to the club.

Jonathan Benteke

He’s got a famous brother, top-flight experience and no club at present. What is more, he’s young and has the best years of his life ahead of him.

He’s 22-years old, and stands 6 feet tall. He played for a couple of sides in Belgium before a move to Crystal Palace. He made his debut in a 2–1 win at Middlesbrough, replacing his sibling for the final six minutes; they were the first Belgian brothers to play in England’s top flight. At the end of the month, he suffered a knee meniscus injury, ruling him out for the next three or four months, and this resulted in  his release by the club at the end of the 2016–17 season.

He’s currently a free agent, but highly unlikely to step down to the fourth tier, nor to be of interest to Danny and Nicky. When looking for value for money, one doesn’t usually find it in young former Premier League players. I’d wager Benteke ends up somewhere in Belgium, rebuilding his career at home.

Flo Bojaj

Bojaj is a Kosovo Albanian recently released by Premier League side Huddersfield. Bojaj made numerous appearances for the Huddersfield under-18 and under-21 sides as both won their respective league titles for consecutive seasons. He scored his first goal for the Terriers in a 3-1 win against Reading, and was later sent out on loan to Kilmarnock and Newport to gain experience. Neither loan deal panned out particularly well, and he was released at the end of the 2016/17 season.

What is interesting is that Flo started out at Boreham Wood in 2013, and therefore may be known to Danny as his Concord side were competing at a similar level at the time. He’s another six-foot player with a bit of pace in his locker as well. At just 21-years old he does still have much to offer. He represented Albania at under-17 level, but later pledged allegiance to Kosovo once they were recognised by FIFA.

Bojaj could be a real wild card, a player with some Football League experience but also one whom has the potential to grow and develop. He’s a free agent at present so could easily sign for City, and despite not having the best of stats behind him, at this stage no player will. The simple fact is nobody we find on the free agent list now is going to be great on paper, otherwise they’d already have a team!

Pat Hoban

Now, Pat may have burned his bridges at Lincoln City. He was moments from signing for Danny’s revolution in the summer of 2016 before he rocked up at Field Mill to pen a deal for the Stags. A prolific spell at Dundalk saw him move into the English game, but since then he’s scrabbled around the likes of Grimsby, Mansfield and Oxford with muted success. He was released by the Fat Controller in 2017 along with the likes of Matt Green.

As yet Pat hasn’t got a club, and clearly Danny saw enough of him last season to make a move. It may be he doesn’t feel Pat is Football League quality, but we know Danny is very thorough when it comes to recruitment. Just over a year ago he saw something in Hoban to warrant almost signing him, does that give the lad an edge, even though he snubbed us? Is he what we need, another big lump of a player? Or are we as fans pigeon holing Ollie Palmer as the Matt Rhead alternative, when in truth we might get another tall layer and use Ollie in the channels? He’s still only 25 and is really in last chance saloon in English football, if he hasn’t given up and gone back to Ireland already.

A move for Hoban would surprise me, but our options are limited by the transfer window restrictions, and perhaps a short-term deal for him to prove his worth might have some legs. I’m not sure I’d want another Stag in the line-up, I think we picked the very best they had last season, there’s not a lot of value in now bringing in their dregs too.

My conclusion? Danny will sign someone else. He always does. Of the players on this list I would imagine Jordan Slew is the most likely, although I’d even be surprised at that.