The Imps have captured the signing of Charley Kendall from Eastbourne Borough on a long-term contract.
The 21-year-old has scored 11 goals in 17 league games this season and will remain on loan with the National League South side for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign subject to approval.
Charley spent five years in QPR’s Academy setup, before joining Eastbourne Borough in September 2021. The forward had previously spent time on loan with Borough during the 2020/21 season.
He said: “I’m over the moon, this is a massive opportunity for me. Lincoln are a great producer of young talent, so joining the club is only good for my development.
“Eastbourne has been a great platform to express who I am as a player. I am enjoying my football, so I want to continue scoring goals and then when I return to Lincoln in pre-season, I’ll hit the ground running and work hard to make my EFL debut.”
Imps director of football Jez George added: “Charley is just the type of talented young player that we want to sign and develop. We are really pleased to have been able to secure his long-term future with Lincoln City in this transfer window. Charley has impressed us with his character, mentality, technical and physical attributes, work ethic and ability to score all types of goals. He has huge potential and we are sure that we can help him to develop in our environment.
"We also have big respect for how Charley backed himself to make his own path into professional football by making the decision to leave QPR in September to play first team football at Eastbourne. His hunger and desire to succeed is evident when you meet him, so we are really excited that Charley has trusted us with this next step in his career.
“Great credit goes to Joe Hutchinson and Marc Tracy for identifying Charley ahead of other clubs and great thanks goes to his agent for wanting what is right for Charley and helping us to make this happen.
“Charley will go back to Eastbourne on loan as we are now well stocked for forwards until the end of the season and it will be best for his development to keep playing and scoring goals. The good thing for us is that he will now be doing that as a Lincoln City player. Charley will train with us when Eastbourne don’t play midweek so that we can help him transition into our full-time environment and make a real impact next season.”
