Lincoln City to take player action which may affect Plymouth Argyle transfer plan | OneFootball

Plymouth Argyle made a £250,000 bid for the defender in January

Plymouth Argyle will hope their pursuit of Paudie O’Connor remains on track, with Lincoln City still desperate to sign their captain to a new deal.

Speculation has surrounded O’Connor all season long, with the Imps skipper into the final year of his deal at Sincil Bank and Argyle one of the clubs linked.

However, with the Irishman now into the last months of his contract, Lincoln have placed signing the centre-back on a new deal to the top of their list of priorities.

New deal for Paudie O'Connor top priority for Lincoln City

Former Leeds United defender O’Connor joined League One Lincoln in 2022, signing a three-year deal after departing Bradford City.

Worryingly for the Imps, O’Connor’s move to Sincil Bank was in similar circumstances to his current situation – with the defender rejecting a new contract from Bradford to step up a division.

In an interview with BBC Radio Lincolnshire, Lincoln’s director of football Jez George confirmed that the club had opened talks with O’Connor in regards to a new deal.

He began: "Paudie is the big focus at the moment.

"I understand the frustration that supporters may have - we are not daft, we know how good he is, we know how important he is.

"He is an unbelievable leader, what he has done for us over three years - but especially over the past 12 months - how he has grown, he is fearless, he is a warrior, he makes first contact, and there are games where the way he defends his box is incredible.

"Are we talking to Paudie, of course you wold expect us to do that and of course we are doing that, but the challenge is that he is 27-years-old and the next contract is going to be a really big one; a pivotal one in his career."

Plymouth Argyle's January pursuit of Paudie O'Connor was not "impossible to turn down"

Whilst Plymouth Argyle might yet ply their trade in the third tier next season, with the Devon outfit currently battling relegation from the Championship, the additional resources from a two-year stint in the second tier could give them the edge in tempting O’Connor down south.

Lincoln fans will be concerned about their club’s apparent lack of financial muscle, with George claiming that there were at least 10 clubs in League One with bigger budgets than the Imps.

George continued: "If I tell you that the top six, eight or 10 clubs in this league have got double our budgets, therefore they can pay players double what we can, and that is the truth.

"It's a really difficult one for us. We are trying to and are doing everything in our power to keep Paudie at our club, but we have to respect his situation and the fact it's his career as well."

Whilst Plymouth could pick up O’Connor on a free transfer come the end of the season, their desire to have the centre-back in their ranks was so strong they attempted to sign the Irishman in the recent winter transfer window.

Plymouth’s pursuit of O’Connor almost forced Lincoln’s hand, but George claimed that Argyle’s offer of £250,000 did not qualify as “impossible to turn down”.

He explained: "January always creates problems and when transfers start getting to the levels they did, then someone could put something on the table that was impossible for us to turn down.

"That didn't happen, but it could have done.

"I don't want to play this out in public, I just want the supporters know that we are doing what they want us to do and doing that really respectfully with Paudie because we couldn't have more respect for him as a player and as a man."