Notts County can use 2019 transfer as blueprint despite some potential Stockport County regret: View | OneFootball

Notts County can take solace from Kyle Wootton signing, despite eventually losing him for free to Stockport County.

Key Takeaways

When Kyle Wootton first joined Notts County in August 2019, it’s fair to say the young striker’s career was stagnating a little.

Loans to Lincoln, North Ferriby, Cheltenham, Stevenage and Halifax had left the Scunthorpe United man still struggling to progress.

Expectations were fairly low when Wootton arrived at Meadow Lane, initially on a season-long loan deal, but the then 22-year-old went on to become one of the key figures of Notts’ four-year spell in the National League.

It took Notts just four months to make his loan deal permanent and this is the type of transfer Notts could certainly benefit from more often in the future, even if Wootton’s departure may have come with a few slight regrets.

Wootton became integral to Notts

By the time Notts made Wootton’s loan deal permanent in January 2020, the striker had already netted 12 goals, a tally which already made it the best goalscoring season of his career.

The Magpies paid Scunthorpe an undisclosed fee for his services (although believed to be in the region of £60,000) and that proved to be a steal over the course of Wootton’s time at Meadow Lane.

After making a strong start in Nottingham, he quickly became integral to Neal Ardley’s side, who would eventually lose to Harrogate Town in the National League play-off final at a deserted Wembley.

By the end of the curtailed 2019/20, Wootton had 18 goals to his name in all competitions, finishing as The Magpies’ top scorer in a season where they fell short by the finest of margins.

He followed that up with 19 goals in all competitions in 2020/21, but Notts again tasted defeat in the play-offs, this time at the hands of Gary Johnson’s Torquay United.

Over the course of these two seasons, Wootton made himself virtually indispensable in the Notts side because his size and mobility, alongside his strong link-up play, provided Notts with the perfect option to vary their play and go slightly more direct when teams had them penned in.

The striker pushed his scoring tally even further in 2021/22, finishing with 22 in all competitions, in what proved to be his final season at Meadow Lane.

Wootton joined the newly crowned National League champions Stockport County upon the expiry of his contract, becoming The Hatters’ first signing upon promotion back to the Football League.

Notts can use the Wootton deal as an example for future transfers

While Notts undoubtedly would rather not have lost their key man on a free transfer, they were happy to take the risk of losing him for free if he got them promoted (likely more valuable than any transfer fee they could have received for him).

They allowed the exact same situation to play out with Ruben Rodrigues the following season, only this time they got their reward and finally secured that all-important promotion that they’d been chasing since relegation in 2019.

Notts can, however, use that template of turning successful loan spells into permanent additions more often in the future, particularly if they are able to negotiate a reasonable fee like they did with Wootton.

They’ve had success with that type of transfer again more recently in the form of Lewis Macari, who’s successful spell on loan from Stoke City saw him make the switch permanent last December.

On Notts’ part, this type of transfer allows them to get a better look at a player before committing to a permanent deal and often, in recent years at least, a fairly lengthy contract.

The Wootton deal was another example of Notts picking up a player for little outlay and backing themselves to develop them into a player who would attract attention, just as they did with the likes of Rodrigues and Cal Roberts among others.

Wootton has since gone on to improve even further at Edgeley Park, scoring 14 and 12 goals respectively in each of his two League Two campaigns, and he already has three goals in League One this term.

While losing him for free was far from ideal, The Magpies can take solace from the fact that they got their money’s worth from him and so much more.