Imps to be 'adaptable' in left-back bid - Skubala

Michael Skubala was appointed Lincoln City boss in November 2023

Lincoln City will have to be "adaptable" in their search to replace left-back Sean Roughan, says Imps boss Michael Skubala.

The 22-year-old Irishman left Lincoln for League One rivals Huddersfield Town at the end of his contract in early July, but the move generated a compensation fee for the Imps.

Skubala has made finding a replacement for Roughan his focus in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, even though he says they "don't have the luxury of going for a like-for-like" replacement.

"We have a plan," Skubala told BBC Radio Lincolnshire during the club's pre-season camp in Portugal.

"It might not look exactly the same as it did last season because Sean was unique in the way he played the game.

"The reason he got the move and the reason we got what we did for him is because of how he performed the role."

Summer arrival Ryley Towler is a centre-back who is capable of playing at left-back when needed.

Left-back Zach Nolan, from League of Ireland side Bray Wanderers, has been with the Imps in Portugal as a triallist alongside right-back Marcel Lavinier, a former Tottenham and Chelsea youngster who most recently featured for Yeovil Town in the National League.

What Skubala wants are players capable of seamlessly picking up different roles in different formations, be it with a back five or back four.

"It's important that we have adaptability, and maybe part of our strength as a club and as a team is being adaptable - it makes us harder to scout and harder to work on us," he said.

"We definitely want to have a core way that we do it, what our principles are, what we want the team to look like, are definitely things that don't change, but in terms of system we can adapt.

"We need to get the bodies in the building to allow us to do that and we have to be smart with how we go to work with that."