"Makes perfect sense" - Lincoln City urged to take January action amid contract dilemma | OneFootball

We asked our Lincoln City fan pundit about Lewis Montsma's future at the club

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Lincoln City have been told to renew Lewis Montsma's contract, which is set to expire in January, despite the fact the defender has yet to play a league game so far this season.

The 26-year-old joined Lincoln back in 2020, and he made a bright start to life at the club, playing 49 games in his first season at Sincil Bank, but he's had some torrid time in recent seasons, suffering two ACL injuries in the process.

He missed the entirety of last season with injury, and despite his contract being set to expire in the summer, the club extended it by six months, a huge show of faith in the Dutchman after a torrid time with injuries, which perhaps showed that they believe he could return to the performance levels he was showing pre-injury.

However, he's played just two games this season, both coming in cup competitions, and with his contract set to expire in early January, it remains to be seen whether he'll remain at Sincil Bank for the second half of the season.

Lincoln City told to renew Lewis Montsma's contract despite limited playing time

FLW asked our Lincoln City fan pundit, Gary Hutchinson (of "The Stacey West" website), about whether the club should renew Montsma's deal despite his limited playing time, and he was adamant that keeping him would be important for squad depth.

Speaking to Football League World, Gary said: "Lewis Montsma is set to be out of contract, but I don’t think the club should offload him.

"We’re operating with a first-team of 24 at the moment, and we try to have two for each position and at centre-back that’s probably not the situation at the moment, so keeping Montsma around makes perfect sense.

"He’s done well when he came into the EFL Trophy and EFL Cup games so it would be silly offloading him because we’d just need to bring somebody else in.

“We’ve already loaned in Saxon Earley from Plymouth, who can play left-sided centre-back, but he’s kind of half cover, so we’re playing Paudie O’Connor, Adam Jackson and Sean Roughan, so then we really only have Tom Hamer and Lewis Montsma as cover.

"It makes perfect sense to retain Montsma and I think he’s got a high ceiling if he can get back from his double ACL injury."

Keeping Lewis Montsma could benefit Lincoln City in the long-term

Lincoln can't wait around forever hoping that Montsma can replicate the form he showed prior to his injury, but giving him a new contract until at least the end of the season could have benefits both in the short-term and long-term.

In the short-term, Montsma could provide some much-needed depth in Lincoln's defence, which Gary made clear was desperately needed, while if he's able to string a run of games together he could regain some of the form he'd shown prior to his injury when he was a real standout player for the Imps.

Lincoln would undoubtedly regret it if they let Monstma leave and he regained form and fitness elsewhere, and after a whole season out injured and two ACL injuries in the space of a couple of seasons, it's important they have patience with the 26-year-old.

Monstma has shown glimpses of what he's capable of in his cup appearances this season, and if ever a player deserved some luck it's the Dutchman.

Lincoln should renew his contract until the end of the season at least, and will then be in a better position to decide whether he's worth keeping at the club longer-term.