Lincoln City’s Director of Football, Jez George, has offered a frank insight into the difficult conditions facing EFL clubs in the transfer market this summer.
Speaking to BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Jez addressed the Imps’ approach to recruitment, the growing financial divide, and how player value shapes strategy at the LNER Stadium.
Having listened to the podcast on my run, I decided to pick up a couple of the key quotes for those that haven’t heard it yet.
The first issue that struck me was around wages. As budgets in League One continue to grow, Jez explained how even the club’s top earners now fall behind standard wage expectations elsewhere.
“The market is difficult, it’s expensive. It’s become something where our top earner used to be towards the top of like a group of players in League One, where now our top earners are just becoming what is bog standard for any player in League One.”
This rising wage inflation has affected the club’s ability to compete, particularly with clubs such as Birmingham City and Wrexham, who operate with far higher budgets. However, Jez was keen to emphasise that the club remains competitive in terms of cost-efficiency.
“We’re fifth in [the cost-per-point] league table and it’s a league table we challenge ourselves to get in the top six. It wouldn’t surprise you to know that Birmingham are bottom.”
Despite the challenges, City continue to scout actively, both at home and abroad. Last season, we brought in Erik Ring, and Jez confirmed the club is once again assessing overseas targets. However, he emphasised that any signings from outside the UK must be clearly better or more cost-effective than domestic alternatives.
“We’ve got some players that we’re doing our due diligence on and that we’ve seen several times. What we have to be really careful of is not to sign a player overseas because we think we should, or to fill a place.
“They have to be better than we can get in the domestic market, or the same quality but much cheaper.”
George stopped short of naming specific signings but confirmed that groundwork is being laid for potential arrivals, domestically, though warned that competition will be fierce.
“We are in a place where we believe we’ve got the right targets, the right options. But we’re going to be fighting in the market with lots of other clubs for those players because if you want to sign a good player in this league, there’s going to be a lot of competition.”
Lincoln’s strategic approach hinges not just on signing the right players, but doing so within a sustainable framework. Jez emphasised that incoming funds do not automatically translate to direct spending on replacements. If we were to sell Ethan Erhahon for more than a million, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be spending all of that on the same position.
“What comes in doesn’t mean it’s going to get spent on the same position,” he added. .”Just because money comes in doesn’t mean a commensurate amount of money goes out, and every single deal has to stack up at being the right deal for us.”
Underpinning the Imps’ recruitment model is the need to develop and eventually sell players at a profit. It’s not just a preference—it’s an operational choice. Sean Roughan and Zane Okoro could exit the club this summer for decent fees, and that model underpins some of the strategy going into the summer.
“We have a lot of KPIs across the whole football department… and one of those is obviously we have to realise asset values in every transfer window.”
This means that while Lincoln will fight to retain key players, they are always aware of the financial balance that must be struck. Speaking about potential sales, such as Ethan Erhahon, Jez confirmed that targets for valuation are shared with agents and potential suitors, something that has been common knowledge for a while now.
“He’s very aware of the number. Clubs are very aware of the number and it’s up to someone to meet that valuation.”
Asked how the club can still attract players despite financial limitations, Jez explained that the Imps rely on the total package—ambition, environment, and opportunity.
“I don’t think there’s a player who hasn’t turned down something better somewhere else when signing for Lincoln City financially… The infrastructure, the environment, the reputation of the club, the fan base, the ambition, the training ground—everything we can present to a player.”
And when it comes to agents, often painted as football’s villains, Jez made clear that Lincoln work with them as essential partners in the process. In the instance of Max Ferdinand, Ethan Erhahon’s agent, he is not just instrumental in wanting the best for his player now, but also in getting him to Lincoln in the first place.
“You can have the opinion that [agents] are everything wrong with football… but my experience is most of them are fine. Most of them are helpful. Most of them are trying to create a win for their player. My job is to try and create a win-win.”
“If it wasn’t for Max (Ferdinand) in the first place, we wouldn’t have been able to get Ethan out of St. Mirren with three days of a window to go in January, when we got him for a snip of the cost that they’d previously agreed with a, a club earlier in that window.
“So you can’t only like agents when they help you on the way in. You have to work with them on the way out, and it makes sense to involve him in that.”
Despite the challenges, Jez remains bullish about Lincoln’s prospects in the window and the club’s future trajectory.
“We’re ambitious. We want to do something really special for this football club.”
You can listen to the full podcast here.