Lincoln City chief hails Man United loanee Ethan Wheatley as 'elite player' despite modest goal record

Lincoln City sporting director Jez George has spoken out in strong support of Manchester United loanee Ethan Wheatley, describing the 20-year-old striker as an “elite player” after the Championship club completed a season-long deal for the academy graduate.

Wheatley arrives at Sincil Bank on his fourth loan spell in three different divisions of the EFL. He made his first temporary move to Walsall in League One in January 2024, managing just four appearances, before spending last season split between Northampton Town and Bradford City — 27 appearances in total, yielding only three senior goals.

George acknowledged that the goal return was modest but insisted Lincoln looked past the numbers when assessing the striker. “With Ethan, last year was frustrating for him during the second half of the season because he had a brilliant first half of the year with Northampton,” the sporting director told The Stacey West podcast. “He moved to a club who were challenging for promotion and probably didn’t quite have the success he wanted.”

“But we just saw his attributes, we didn’t see his record, number of goals or number of appearances in the second half of last year — we saw pure pace, pure athleticism and top-end quality. He’s an elite player.”

George also revealed that Lincoln had been tracking Wheatley since his first loan at Walsall and had held direct conversations with staff at Manchester United before finalising the move, which was delayed by several weeks for reasons outside the club’s control.

“Ethan can play anywhere across the top line and has a skill set that will add elite athleticism and pace, as well as technical ability, to our attacking options,” George added. “We know he has benefited from his previous loans and is ready for this challenge.”

Wheatley made his Lincoln debut as a late substitute in a 4-1 League Cup win at Blackpool, coming on for the final five minutes. He has since been an unused substitute in back-to-back league fixtures — a 1-0 win at Bolton Wanderers and a 0-0 home draw with Blackburn Rovers — as he works his way into contention under the Championship spotlight.