Lincoln City have announced the signing of free agent Tom Bayliss after the 25-year-old was released by Shrewsbury Town.
The attack-minded midfielder has over 180 career appearances across a number of divisions, starting his career at Coventry City. Leicester-born Bayliss has also had a spell at Preston North End as well as a period on loan at Wigan Athletic before moving to Shropshire in 2022.
He has won promotion twice already in his short career, having helped Coventry in their successful League Two campaign in 2017/18, while also playing a part in returning Wigan to the Championship in 2021/22. Bayliss, who has 20 career goals, including 10 during his time at New Meadow, also has two England U19s caps to his name having been called up to the U19 European Championship back in 2018.
He joins a Lincoln City side who were resurgent in the second half of last campaign under head coach Michael Skubala, winning 10 of their last 15 games before narrowly missing out on the play-off spots on the final day of the season. Bayliss offers much-needed midfield support for the Imps, with Teddy Bishop and Danny Mandroiu both coming towards the end of their deals at the LNER Stadium.
Speaking to Lincoln’s official channels, Bayliss said:
“As an attacking player you want to be in a team that is expressive and wants to go and win games of football – which is exactly what I’ve come into. You also want to play at the highest level and I think this club is going in that direction – the club matches my ambition.
Highly-rated head coach Skubala, who joined the Imps in November 2023, said “Tom is an extremely talented player, who has shown that he can score and create goals in League One. He also demonstrated with his move earlier in his career from Coventry to Preston for a seven-figure transfer fee that he has the attributes to play higher.”
Ahead of the 2024/25 campaign, Bayliss’ new club may be set for a battle for promotion following a strong end to the last season, and Skubala’s side are already making moves, having signed goalkeeper Jamie Pardington as they look to make the step up to the Championship.
Writer’s View
This is a fantastic move for both parties. Bayliss has shown himself as a player capable of playing at a higher level and has twice experienced promotion at the age of just 25. He’s shown himself to be a star player at mid-table Shrewsbury and should easily be able to hold his own at Lincoln City as they push to finish in the upper echelons of the table.
From the Imps’ point of view, this is a stellar capture; experience and youth at the same time on a free transfer as they look to gain promotion, and what better way to go about that aim than signing Bayliss who has done just that.
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