Lincoln manager Danny Cowley believes Norwich City's FA Cup draw with Chelsea may put Sean Raggett's Canaries debut on hold.
But that doesn't spell good news for the Imps boss – with their own hopes for landing the defender back on loan in January seemingly set to bite the dust.
Norwich signed the highly rated 23-year-old centre-back in the summer, allowing the League Two new boys to keep Raggett on loan until the new year.
The defender will return to Colney come January for City's coaching staff to take a closer look at his development.
However, EFL rules allow Raggett to appear for just two clubs this season – in turn meaning an FA Cup appearance for Norwich would rule out any loan move for the second half of the season.
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And with some Championship and plenty of League One clubs already understood to be keen to give Raggett game-time before the summer arrives, the Canaries could pursue a longer-term view to see how Raggett copes with four months and another step up in level.
That view is compounded by the defensive options currently at the disposal of City head coach Daniel Farke, given Grant Hanley's late summer window arrival added him to a pot that already included Timm Klose, Christoph Zimmermann, Marcel Franke and Russell Martin – for now, at least.
'We'll have to wait and see,' said Cowley. 'Drawing Chelsea is a unique tie for Norwich so it will depend on how they want to go about it. It would certainly be a tough one for Sean to step into for his first game in a Norwich shirt. We'll keep the lines of communication open with Norwich and see how it unfolds.'
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