Sheffield Wednesday promotion hero Aden Flint is set to sign for League Two outfit Mansfield Town. The centre-back was on loan at Hillsborough for the second half of last season and aided the Owls in their promotion quest.
According to Pete O’Rourke, the Stags have won the race to land the experience enforcer. Nigel Clough has been courting a new central defender all summer but now he looks set to complete something of a coup.
Flint will need no introduction to Mansfield. He was born in nearby Pinxton and made his first steps into professional football with Alfreton Town before moving to Swindon in the Football League.
The 34-year-old has Championship experience on his CV. He’s played for Cardiff, Bristol City, Stoke and Middlesborough in the second tier and that level of experience should be very useful to Mansfield.
Last season, Flint etched his name into folklore at Wednesday. It was his back-post header deep into stoppage time that assisted Liam Palmer to make the score 4-0 in the second leg of the play-off semi-final.
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The central defender was then on the bench as the Owls won promotion by beating Barnsley at Wembley. Still, he was a very important member of Darren Moore’s team and he proved to be a model professional at the club.
Flint set for Mansfield after Wednesday exit
It was always going to be tough for Wednesday to justify giving Flint a contract in the Championship. When Moore departed the chances dwindled for the defender but it is a surprise that he’s not been picked up sooner.
This is a remarkable coup for the Stags. They will go in quest of promotion to League One this season, with the club showing some real ambition in the transfer market.
Flint fits the profile of a Clough signing down to the ground. He has an abundance of experience and he’s the type of head-it-and-kick-it central defender that he likes to utilise in his team.
This is a really good move for Mansfield. Very few defenders in League Two have such experience at a higher level than Flint. As a result, he could prove pivotal in their fight to win promotion.