Lincoln City Director Rules Out Re-signing Striker Joe Taylor

Lincoln City’s director of football, Jez George, has stated that “the ship has sailed” regarding the club’s ability to re-sign striker Joe Taylor from Luton Town. Taylor played a role in Luton securing promotion to the Premier League in 2023. The 22-year-old forward netted 10 goals in 19 League One appearances while on loan at the Imps last season. He later returned to Lincoln in October to watch his former team play against Northampton. Although Taylor has featured for Luton in the Championship this season, he has made only 10 substitute appearances and has not scored. When asked about the prospect of Taylor returning to play for Lincoln, George indicated that the Imps were financially unable to pursue any potential deal. “I think Joe has moved beyond us unless someone has three, four or five million pounds they want to drop into Lincoln City’s bank account in the next couple of days,” George told BBC Radio Lincolnshire. He added, “The truth is that ship has sailed – that is the reality. Luton are looking now at potentially maybe a permanent [move], and that would be a million miles out of our sphere in terms of what we could do in terms of transfer fee and wages.” George confirmed that Taylor was a transfer target in the summer, following his impactful five-month spell last term. Instead, Lincoln brought in Bailey Cadamarteri on loan from Sheffield Wednesday. The forward has since scored seven goals in 23 appearances for Lincoln. George explained, “In the summer we were in talks with Joe and we were speaking to his representative and Luton, and then it became apparent that financially we were going to be blown out of the water should Joe be allowed to go out on loan.” He further commented, “And we pivoted quickly and we think we signed someone who is the best available forward for his type on a loan in the summer, which is Bailey. And we are still convinced that Bailey can score loads of goals for us and I’m sure he will do that in the second half of the season.”