Football League World
·12 November 2024
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·12 November 2024
FLW's Lincoln City fan pundit admitted he would have loved the club to sign Luton Town striker Joe Taylor permanently in the summer.
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…
Luton Town striker Joe Taylor enjoyed an outstanding loan spell at Lincoln City last season, but the Imps were unable to bring him back to the club this summer.
Taylor spent the first half of last season on loan at League Two side Colchester United, where he scored 12 goals and provided two assists in 27 appearances before returning to Luton in January.
The 21-year-old then made the step up to League One with Lincoln, and he made a huge impact at Sincil Bank, scoring 10 goals and registering three assists in 19 games as Michael Skubala's side narrowly missed out on the play-off places.
While Skubala did not directly say that he was keen to re-sign Taylor in the summer, he did not deny the Imps were interested in securing another loan for the striker, but they were unable to reach a deal, and he remained at Kenilworth Road.
Lincoln instead signed Sheffield Wednesday striker Bailey Cadamarteri on loan in August, and the absence of Taylor has not had too much of a detrimental impact, with the club currently sitting fifth in the table after an excellent start to the season.
When asked which previously linked player he wishes the club had been able to sign, FLW's Lincoln City fan pundit Gary Hutchinson named missing out on Taylor this summer as his biggest transfer regret, while he also mentioned Jaden Philogene, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Morgan Whittaker.
"I think the obvious player that we were linked with and didn't end up signing would be Joe Taylor," Gary said.
"We did sign him last season for the last five months of the campaign, and he finished as our leading goalscorer, he had a really good spell with us.
"He was recently at a Lincoln game on a Tuesday night for the 2-1 win over Northampton, he was wearing Lincoln-branded clothing.
"It would have been great if we could have gone back in and got him, not because our currently strikers are doing badly, they've shared something like 13 goals between them in all competitions so far, which is a decent return.
"But I think that if we were able to sign Joe Taylor as our own asset, over and above somebody like Bailey Cadamarteri who is on loan, it would obviously be a major coup.
"There are a couple of other players we were linked with who we didn't get.
"We were linked with signing Jaden Philogene on loan from Aston Villa, and it collapsed at the last minute, that would obviously have been phenomenal.
"We were linked with Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, and that again was a move where he chose to move elsewhere.
"There were murmurings after Morgan Whittaker's loan spell here that we had an option to buy him if we wished at the end of that loan spell, which again didn't happen.
"I think at the time we had borrowed him from Swansea, Jordon Garrick had been at Plymouth, and at the end of the season, we took Garrick on loan again, Plymouth took Whittaker and the rest is history."
While Lincoln have made a strong start to the season, they would likely be even higher in the table had they managed to bring Taylor back to the club in the summer, and an automatic promotion push could have been on the cards.
Despite interest from the Imps, Watford and Huddersfield Town, Taylor remained at Luton this summer, but he has made just seven substitute appearances so far this season, raising question marks over his long-term future at the club.
Taylor has even been left out of the Hatters' matchday squad altogether for the last two games, and the striker will be frustrated that he has not been given more of a chance, particularly given that Rob Edwards' side are struggling towards the bottom of the table.
Edwards is currently under increasing pressure, and a managerial change at Kenilworth Road could see Taylor's fortunes improve, but if his game time remains limited over the coming months, a return to Lincoln in January should not be ruled out.
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