Notts County should look to repeat Macaulay Langstaff trick with non-league raid in January | OneFootball

Notts should look to non-league once again in the January window.

Summary

Notts County should target a repeat of their Macaulay Langstaff deal by raiding the league below for talent in the January transfer window.

It’s a tactic that has served the Magpies well in the past. They bought Langstaff from National League North champions Gateshead for a rumoured £50,000 before selling him to Millwall last summer for a fee reported to be around £700,000. The striker made the step-up to the fifth tier look easy with Notts, breaking the league and club record for the most league goals in a single season with 42.

He was then equally deadly in League Two last time out, winning the fourth division's Golden Boot with 28 league goals.

Notts have also had success previously in the form of the deal to sign Cal Roberts from National League North side Blyth Spartans back in 2020, before selling the Geordie winger to Aberdeen in 2022.

With Notts potentially in need of another wideman this January, it could be beneficial for the Magpies to explore options outside the Football League once again to find their next star.

Notts should target Jack Stevens at Solihull Moors

While Notts obviously won’t be able to replicate every transfer to the same level of success as they had with Langstaff, with the increasing quality of the National League over recent years, it’s certainly a market that is worth continuing to explore.

With that in mind, Solihull Moors attacker Jack Stevens could be the perfect fit for what Notts are after.

A product of Oxford United’s academy, the 23-year-old is exactly the type of young player whose career is on the rise that Notts have targeted under the Reedtz brothers’ ownership.

Stevens returned from injury on Tuesday night to net a superb 89th-minute winner as the Moors defeated Aldershot Town 2-1. That strike was the forward's tenth league goal of the season for a Solihull side who have struggled for consistency while he also has three assists to his name.

He ended last season, his first full campaign for Solihull, with 17 goals in all competitions, and the Welshman’s goal record was equally impressive for Banbury United (in the National League North), where his nine goals and eight assists in the first half of the 2022/23 season earned him his move to the fifth tier.

He was brought to Solihull by Neal Ardley, a manager who worked effectively with Notts’ recruitment team in the past, helping to bring players like Kyle Wootton and Ruben Rodrigues to Meadow Lane.

Stevens signed a two-and-a-half-year deal when he moved to Solihull back in January 2023, meaning his contract is due to expire at the end of this season. This could make him a particularly attractive proposition for Notts, as it would likely only need a small fee to secure his services, which would make the deal fairly low risk from the Magpies’ point of view.

Stevens could be the wide man Notts need

Although he can play anywhere across the frontline, Stevens has played the majority of his 14 league games on the wing this season, potentially making him the perfect man to solve Notts’ wing-back issue.

With Jodi Jones still sidelined through injury and Kellan Gordon still struggling for form, Notts could do with another option to bolster their wide options.

Stevens wouldn’t command a big fee and could have the potential to go on and forge a successful Football League career for himself in the future.

And, whether Notts feel the need to add Stevens immediately or not, as we’ve seen with deals like the Lucas Ness one in the summer, they aren’t afraid to make a move for a player who they think has a big future, even if they don’t necessarily need them at the time.

There could even be scope for Notts to sign Stevens and send him back to the Moors on loan if they feel he’s at risk of not getting much game time with Jones’ potential return edging closer.

It is set to be an intriguing window for the League Two play-off chasers but repeating a trick that worked so well with Langstaff, who they pinched after he'd impressed at a lower level, could make a worthwhile strategy.