Former Nottingham Forest defender Tendayi Darikwa has signed for ambitious League One side Lincoln City on a free transfer from Cypriot side Apollon Limassol, the club announced on their website.
The right-back began his career at Chesterfield, before making a big-money move to Lancashire to join Burnley. After two seasons at Turf Moor, which included the infamous FA Cup tie against the Imps, Darikwa moved to fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest.
The Zimbabwe international, who has been capped 14 times for his national team, then spent four years at The City Ground, where he recorded over 60 appearances in the famous red strip.
A move to Wigan Athletic followed, where the versatile defender captained his side to the League One title in 2022. Playing 43 games that season, his impact in that promotion campaign was pivotal.
This move does not follow Lincoln’s typical recruitment strategy, which often sees young promising players brought in, with a hope of developing at the side and being sold on for a substantial profit. For example, Darikwa is the first player over 30 to arrive at Sincil Bank since Chris Maguire in the summer of 2021.
However, the club are clearly trying to be ambitious this year. With six signings now through the door, the squad is looking more complete as each week passes, with Michael Skubala and his staff showing a willingness to complete their business early this summer, to ensure a large contingent of the starting squad gets a full pre-season under their belts.
The Imps will be hoping that they can go one step further this campaign to improve on their seventh-place finish with a spot in the top six.
Writer’s View
This really is a surprising move for Lincoln to make. All their signings so far this window have followed their usual model, apart from Conor McGrandles who is a known entity to the club.
However, the side are clearly aiming to improve their squad depth this summer, and introducing experience into that is a key part of improving squad depth.