Stockport County will live to regret Notts County transfer miss: View | OneFootball

Stockport County making errors in the transfer market has been rare in recent years, but one chance they missed may haunt them for seasons to come.

Reports from the time suggest that the Hatters, then in the National League, were interested in lethal forward Macaulay Langstaff, who was turning out for National League North side Gateshead at the time.

The move never came off, and the club later opted to bring in Notts County target man Kyle Wootton.

Langstaff would arrive at Meadow Lane as Wootton's replacement and, just a couple of short years later, the former Gateshead man was being valued at £1.5million.

The Hatters missed a bargain

A report from the Chronicle (21 December 2021, pg 36) suggested that Stockport were linked with a five-figure move for the goal-getter which, at a maximum of £99k, seems like an absolute steal in hindsight.

That season would end with the now 27-year-old notching 28 goals in 37 games in the sixth tier.

It was his best season to date and may have been seen as a bit of a flash in the pan at the time, but he would improve further following his move to the Magpies that summer, netting an astounding 41 goals in 45 games the season after Stockport had missed their chance.

Few could have predicted Langstaff's rise

Becoming a regular scorer in the National League North is one thing, but stepping up the levels to jump into the National League and then League Two - consistently bagging goals throughout - is another.

The Hatters opted for Wootton in the end, who linked up with the Greater Manchester side in the summer of 2022, just over a week after Notts unveiled Langstaff, at which point the club would have known Wootton was not going to sign a new deal.

Although Wootton has been a positive signing for Stockport, with his size and hold-up play offering something not on offer elsewhere in the squad, it's easy to imagine some inside Edgeley Park wishing they had plumped for the replacement rather than the main article.

The Stockport man has netted 26 goals in 86 appearances since his arrival, a respectable figure but with a significant injury keeping him sidelined for the start of 2023/24, many feel they are yet to see the best of Wootton.

Langstaff, by comparison, has bagged 70 in 96 appearances.

There are, of course, redeeming and less flattering statistics for both, but when Stockport hit a dry patch towards the back end of their League Two title-winning season, they may have wished they had a marksman like Langstaff in their ranks.

The financial rewards on offer would have been huge

Not only would Langstaff's goals have been useful but, if the reported five-figure sum would have been enough to buy him, there would have been a lot of money to be made for the Hatters.

Just 18 months after his Notts switch, the club were touting his value as £1.5million, an astronomical, but worthy, sum for a player that had been in the sixth tier just a couple of years earlier.

Stockport owner Mark Stott has spoken previously about his desire for the club to buy younger, promising players that can be sold on at a later date for profit. Langstaff paints a perfect picture of that philosophy in action.

Having got on more than fine with the likes of Wootton, Paddy Madden, Tanto Olaofe and Louie Barry in the intervening years, Dave Challinor's side won't spend too much time dwelling on what could have been, but the strength of the squad if they had taken a gamble on Langstaff back in 2021 is a frightening proposition.