Lincoln City have signed forward, Tanto Olaofe on a season-long loan from Charlton Athletic.
Olaofe’s loan switch comes after he spent the second half of last season at Stockport County on loan from the Addicks, where he registered one goal and assist apiece in 22 appearances across League One and EFL Trophy as the Hatters missed out on promotion in the play-off final to Bolton.
He also managed just one goal in 25 appearances for Charlton across the first half of last season in the Championship.
The 26-year-old was previously on the Imps’ radar in 2022 when they tried to sign him from Sutton United where he was on loan from Millwall, with Sporting Director – Jez George explaining that Olaofe’s loan signing is down to a need to add firepower up front in attack.
“Tanto is actually a player we first spoke with and presented to four years ago when we tried to buy him from Sutton United.
“We have said that we wanted to add pace, power and physicality to our group this summer, and Tanto ticks all those boxes, as well as experiencing the Championship last season.
“He is aggressive, demonstrates Lincoln City traits in his behaviours, and we are certain that with how we play we can help him to become a real goal threat again.
“Tanto is a perfect fit for our game model, can play across all the front positions, including both wide areas, and he joins us with plenty to prove at this level, like the majority of our squad.”
George added that the club felt that Charlton wouldn’t of loaned Olaofe to another second-tier rival and is pleased that the deal comes with an option for the Imps to sign him permanently next summer, subject to clauses being met.
“We are really pleased to have him as we didn’t believe a loan would have been possible to another club in the Championship and subsequently this opportunity has only arisen in the past few days.
“We have also secured an option to buy, which we can exercise next summer based on certain conditions, so that makes it even more interesting for us.”
Olaofe began his career at Millwall where he made just three appearances in the 2022-23 season amidst three separate loans between 2019-22 seasons at Sutton, whilst he also spent half of the 2020-21 season in Scotland at St Johnstone but only made two appearances before his loan was terminated in October 2020.
After his disastrous loan stint at St Johnstone, he re-joined Sutton on his second loan stint at the South-London club and helped them win promotion to the EFL at the end of that season, with 16 goals in 41 appearances.
He returned on his third loan to Sutton the next season and scored nine goals in 34 appearances, which eventually led Millwall to sell him to Stockport in January 2023 after he failed to fully break into Millwall’s first-team squad earlier that season.
Olaofe went on to score 37 goals in 121 appearances in a two-and-a-half year spell at Stockport as they won promotion to League One at the end of the 2023-24 season, which led Charlton to sign him last summer.