Lincoln City director of football Jez George has admitted that he expects to receive a string of offers for key midfielder Ethan Erhahon this summer.
The 24-year-old joined the Imps from St Mirren in 2023 and has since gone on to make 107 appearances. He is widely touted as the crown jewel of Michael Skubala’s squad and has long attracted interest from the Championship.
Swansea City were said to be the first to the table earlier this month. It was claimed that a £600,000 bid was made, although this was dismissed outright by Lincoln.
The East Midlands-based outfit have long made their stance clear in regard to Erhahon. They would only consider selling should they receive an offer which eclipses that of their record transfer fee received, which was the £640,000 Huddersfield Town paid for Harry Toffolo in 2020.
George Makes Exit Admission
Speaking to BBC Radio Lincolnshire, George revealed that Erhahon’s agent is well aware of the figure it would take to prise the midfielder away from the LNER Stadium:
“Ethan’s agent is very aware of the number and clubs are very aware of the number and it’s up to clubs to meet that valuation.
“It is very early in the summer and we do expect to get offers because Ethan is an outstanding player with outstanding attributes and outstanding potential.
“It would surprise me if there wasn’t a club in the Championship that doesn’t see his potential.”
Continuing, the director appeared to place the former Scotland under-21 international in the shop window:
“If I was a Championship director of football or a Championship head of recruitment, Ethan would absolutely be top of my list.
“Has he been quite as impressive last season as he was the year before? No. But the year before he was absolutely outstanding and I cannot believe that this time last year we didn’t have people absolutely banging our door down to sign Ethan.
“For clubs not to do that, I can’t understand what they look for. He has all the attributes, and form is temporary as the saying goes.
“I look at him and think, for his age, his athletic capabilities, his technical detail and all his strengths and his ceiling and what he is capable of being, I’d be banging Lincoln City’s door down. But I’m not, I’m here and my job is to make sure we only open that door to a club who comes with the right valuation.”
Writer’s View
Erhahon has long been tipped to make the move into the Championship. It was expected last summer, but he remained at Sincil Bank despite reports of a wide array of interest. He isn’t expected to remain at the club into next season though, with Blackburn Rovers said to be one of a number of clubs considering making a move. Swansea appear to have ruled themselves out of the running after seeing their initial bid knocked back though, and it will be interesting to see who makes the next move.
