Tottenham Target Loach Signs Watford Contract

4th March 2010

Former Lincoln City goalkeeper Scott Loach has today signed a new contract at Watford.

So what does this mean for The Imps?

Well, it is mainly positive.

First, remember that Lincoln are entitled to a 15% sell-on fee should Watford sell Loach. All season, he has been the target of Tottenham Hostpur and in January, Spurs made an approach to take him on loan with a view to a £2 million transfer. This would have netted City a nice £300,000 to help Imps' boss Chris Sutton rebuild his squad; alas, it was not to happen.

Now, Loach has agreed a new three-year contract at Watford taking him to June 2013.

This is good news for City, as it means that Watford can negotiate a bigger transfer fee as they do not have to worry about his contract expiring. Obviously, the closer a contract comes to its expiry date, the less a club can demand for a player's services.

Of course the negative is that Loach is under contract until June 2013 theoretically meaning that he will stay at Watford until this time; thereby postponing the windfall for Lincoln. If you really want to get negative, then Loach could see out his new contract before leaving Watford for free under the Bosman Ruling. This would deny Lincoln any extra money for the goalkeeper that they sold to Watford in 2006 for £50,000.

However, I do not think this will happen, as Loach is already an England Under-21 international and is tipped for great things. By 2013, he will be 25 years old, and unless Watford gain promotion to the Premiership, I can foresee Loach being a Premiership player before his 25th birthday.

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