Lincoln City’s FA Cup hero Sean Raggett has reportedly been headhunted by Premier League outfit West Brom – but Millwall are firmly in the race.
One way or another, Sean Raggett will be playing in the Football League next season.
Lincoln City have stormed to the Conference title, ensuring a superb season complete with fairly-tale FA Cup journey has ended in silverware.
Yet, the Daily Mail reports that centre-back Raggett could be making a slightly more substantial step up – from non-league to the Premier League.
West Brom are in the market for defensive reinforcements and the newspaper claims that they will make a bid for Raggett in the summer. After all, the 23-year-old has already proven himself at the top level of the domestic game, shutting out Burnley before scoring a dramatic, last-gasp winner in the FA Cup fifth round at Turf Moor.
Started from the bottom
Scouring the lower leagues for under-the-radar talent has served a number of top flight clubs well in recent seasons, with Leicester City’s former Halifax and Stockbridge Steel goal machine Jamie Vardy blazing a trail.
Furthermore, Andre Gray’s progression from Luton to Burnley, and Dele Alli’s rise from League One MK Dons to Tottenham Hotspur shows the benefit of giving hungry, homegrown players a chance at a higher level.
Millwall, too, are not averse to looking at the local market for bargains. Star striker Lee Gregory was already 25 years of age when he swapped Halifax for The Den in 2014, after all.
And News at Den reports that Millwall could aim to repeat the trick by snatching Raggett from under West Brom’s nose.
With loanee Jake Cooper set to return to Reading, Lions manager Neil Harris’ friendship with Lincoln boss Danny Cowley could even give Millwall the edge in the chase for Raggett’s signature, News at Den adds.
And this would certainly represent a major coup for the League One play-off hopefuls.
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