Midfielder Jack Lankester’s move to Cambridge United has been confirmed, TWTD having revealed yesterday that the clubs had agreed a deal, subject to a medical.

The 21-year-old has signed a two-year deal at the Abbey Stadium for an undisclosed fee.

“I am very happy to be here.” Lankester told the League One U’s official website. “As soon as it came up I was very excited to get it going.

“I am from Bury St Edmunds and know the area really well so it was definitely my first choice. A fresh start is something I need and I don’t think there is a better place than here to do it.”

Cambridge boss Mark Bonner added, “Jack joins us at a stage in his career where contributing more often to the first team is key for him.

“His ability level saw him play 11 times in the Championship as an 18-year-old and although injuries have curtailed his development a little along the way, having returned to full fitness, he made a good impact in League One last season.

“His challenge now is to work for a place in the team and to adjust to a new environment quickly.

“He is well balanced, has an excellent left foot and superb vision to open teams up with incisive passes.

“This is a brilliant opportunity for him and I am excited to be working together with him. We aim to give him the confidence and opportunity he needs to show how good he is as we believe we have a player with real potential on our hands.”

Lankester came through the academy at Town having joined as an U7 and went on to make 13 starts and 17 sub appearances for the Blues, scoring three goals.

He made his senior debut in the 2018/19 campaign but stressed fractures to his back hampered his progress and he missed the whole of the 2019/20 season.

Lankester returned in 2020/21 but was unable to nail down a regular spot in the side and was among the players told he could find another club at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, former Town defender John McGreal has left his role as manager of League Two Swindon after less than a month.

McGreal and his assistant Rene Gilmartin have terminated their contracts by mutial consent, while CEO Steve Anderson has also left the County Ground today.

In a jointly issued statement, they said: “This is a decision we both have made, as we feel we are not able to carry out our duties as manager and assistant manager.

“Our intention from day one was to build a football team to compete in this league, but unfortunately due to the current circumstances the club is facing, we do not feel we are able to do that.

“As mentioned earlier this week, we have signings ready to be announced, however the legal proceedings involving the ownership has not allowed us to do so, making our positions at the club untenable.” - John and Rene.”

Photo: Matchday Images

RobITFC added 16:47 - Jun 25 Nottsboy - No IU did not mark you down , sadly Lankester is not the same player since his injury.
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jas0999 added 16:58 - Jun 25 If only he hadn't picked up that injury. Shame it didn't work out but hopefully he will excel at Cambridge. Good move for him.
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DJ27 added 17:04 - Jun 25 Grow our own. Which of our youth havn't been given an extended chance? I'll give you Nydam, but apart from that, they've all had plenty of opportunites to impress. They've been here 3/4 or 5 years in some cases. In fact i'd say they've had more chances because they are from the academy. Think how many chances and managers Kenlock has had to impress for example? I would hardly call Evans and Burns journeymen either.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 17:06 - Jun 25 Grow our own most the kids get a chance to shine but if they're no good why keep them?? A lot of players from the youth set up have had ample chance and played first team football probably more than most clubs so you're talking a player tosh yet again. As I say he's got a poor attitude, injury prone if he wasn't from the youth set up you'd want him out as well!! Good luck to him but if these kids are any good why when they move on aren't they going to bigger clubs higher up?? I'll wait

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trublulax added 17:32 - Jun 25 Good riddance to bad rubbish. Way too in love with himself and won't amount to any more than josh Carson. Waste.
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itfcasual added 17:36 - Jun 25 Grow Our Own If Town weren't subject to a FFP Salary Cap in League One your argument to hang on to players just because they came through the academy just in case they do develop to offer competition in the first team might have some merit. However, we are subject to a salary cap and we can't afford that luxury. Football clubs turnover players. We need to get used to improving players for sale. No room for complacency. Each player needs to feel that they are playing for a place in our team or someone elses, every day. I saw one of our players filling up his Mercedes with petrol the other day. It was a lovely car. Just the sort of car you buy when you've made it.

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Gforce added 17:46 - Jun 25 I believe we will regret letting this lad go. I remember his first few games for the club when we were still in the championship and thought he looked terrific. Given his age I see no reason why he can't return to his early form,when that happens watch the big boys come calling. Many won't agree, but Mark my words this lad will end up in the Premier league, sadly not with us.

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Nottsboy added 18:18 - Jun 25 RobITFC my apologies I misread a post you didn't mark me down, yes I had high hopes for Jack and still have but that's for the future.
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Linkboy13 added 18:34 - Jun 25 No room for big time charlies at the club Got his just desserts a big move to Cambridge. Might not be quite as cosy as Portman road.
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grow_our_own added 19:09 - Jun 25 "However, we are subject to a salary cap" - then loan! We risk another RhodesMarriott situation with Dozzell & Lankester. Quality home-grown players leaving for next to nothing then succeeding in top leagues elsewhere. This is the direct opposite of the formula when we used to be good at football and is the main reason we are now the most underperforming club in England. We know how to be successful, because we've achieved it many times before. Look at Robson's strategy, look at Burley & Sheepshanks'. Rince and repeat. Grow our own!

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pup12 added 19:25 - Jun 25 Good luck a Jack !i am afraid on their own our youth players are not strong enough to get us out of this god forsaken league .How many times have they been out muscled,out fought and out thought by stronger supposedly lesser teams ?to many times .Hopefully that is now in the past .COYB .
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BeattiesBackPocket added 19:55 - Jun 25 Grow our own tell me this you was ok with Huws going? Now he was a very good player came to us injured constantly for a lot of his contract and when he did play wasn't anything special yet fans were ok with him leaving but now it's the same scenario Lankaster great start to career gets injured granted not his fault but has had some james since coming back and been average at best same as huws but you want him to stay just because he's come from our youth team. Contradicting to say the least

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Linkboy13 added 20:43 - Jun 25 In an ideal world it's far better to produce your own players from your youth policy. But they have to be up to a certain standard which apart from one or two haven't been. Im older enough to remember when we produced players in the top flight who went on to play for their countries they didn't need countless games to bed in. There should be no sentiment in football players have to earn the right to play not just because they play for the youth team. We're in league one which is not a great standard and we are not producing players of adequate quality.

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itfcasual added 21:25 - Jun 25 Every time you sell a player there is a risk that their value increases. In fact no-one would buy players if that wasn't at least a possibility some of the time. Obviously ITFC has sold players before they reached the top of their market value, it's to be expected. Loaning players out endlessly is not the answer. The evidence is right there in front of us, we have a bloated roster of players and none of them are good enough for this club! Better to be honest with the player. You've had your time at Ipswich, time for a new challenge. Done. Move on. Find another hungry kid and put your effort into developing them. And when the time is right, sell them too. Stick with the same bunch of players, let them get cosy believing the gravy train never stops and you get what we've got, which is total stagnation and team devoid of any creativity. This is long overdue.

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grow_our_own added 21:56 - Jun 25 BeattiesBackPocket, Huws is 27. This is as good as he gets. Lankester is 21, nowhere near his peak. Grow our own means just that. Developing our own players. Most player development happens at a young age. This is our edge: our academy and the vibrant local leagues. It's how ITFC became great.
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Saxonblue74 added 06:50 - Jun 26 If these lads are as talented as some suggest why could they not shine in a very poor Town squad? There has been far too much room for sentiment and I'm pleased to see that changing. They would have been gone some time ago to Prem/champ clubs if they had anything to offer. 21 is not young in the modern game, the average age of our England team v Scotland was 25!
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Linkboy13 added 07:15 - Jun 26 Lankester and Dozzell up and coming journey men in the making.
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BeattiesBackPocket added 10:41 - Jun 26 Grow our own I get that but fact is we haven't produced any kids that have gone on to bigger things since Wickham you don't keep players who have a poor attitude or simply not good enough. Our youth set up hasn't been the same since categories came in and had evans not turned the chance down to have a cat 1 club at the start to save money we may be taking about the best youngsters. Realise the ones with the greatest potential HAVE been sold already (4 in two years at one point) before even reaching the age of 16 that again is down to evans and the kids parents heads being turned. Fact is The days of producing Dyer, Wright, Scowcroft in one team at a high level isn't going to happen whilst category 2 it's that simple and I don't want any average Joe in the team just because they're from that set up! Let's hope the new lot who got to the semis are good but again anyone with huge talent will probably go to a bigger club.

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grow_our_own added 10:53 - Jun 26 BeattiesBackPocket, it's easier to hold onto 16 year olds than 25 year olds. Your strategy of buying a team instead has never worked at ITFC. Burley tried it in 2001 and failed. Keane tried it in 2007 and failed. Whenever we've tried it we failed. It's not just about lack of money, it's also that talented footballers and their WAGs want the glamour lifestyle. I remember when we and Charlton offered the same money (multi-million IIR) for Claus Jensen. He chose Charlton because we can't compete with London and big-city clubs on lifestyle. This is why our edge has always been our youth team and the vibrant local leagues. Local pride has been our only ever route to success. Last season's squad contained many home-grown talent and it was only criminally bad management by Lambert & Cook that they didn't finish in the playoffs. In the chat room before games, we were calling results correctly based on the team selection. It was that bad.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 11:34 - Jun 26 Grow our own clearly it's not easy to hold onto 16 year olds what did I just say? 4 were sold on the space of 2 years because we cannot keep them if they get their heads turned what don't you understand about the category's?? I'd suggest getting out from the past blame evans for the lack of structure and the fact he didn't go cat 1 when he had the chance As we'd be the team being able to pick off others and get behind the team. Tell me one kid that's been that good to play higher since Wickham?? So burley didn't buy a side?? We had 4 youth products in the team that's all the rest were bought in?? Magilton, McGreal, Mowbray, Venus, johnson, Stewart, hriedderson, Miller, Reuser do you want me to go on?? You're taking absolute tosh either get behind the team and new structure or go support the budgies I'm Beginning to think you're one anyway

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BeattiesBackPocket added 11:38 - Jun 26 Grow our own reread my post because I said I get we need to have a better youth set up on the outside it looks great but until we are cat 1 our really talented kids were being sold before Even reaching the under 23's its not possible anymore to do what you're talking about. Norwich being through the odd few but that's because they are cat 1 want to blame anyone blame the last regime because before he came in we were producing these kids since he came in only Wickham has gone further. We need to be cat 1 to have any chance. Go read what the category's are about instead of your constant moaning because you'll understand it a lot more

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grow_our_own added 15:01 - Jun 27 BeattiesBackPocket, I'm not defending the status quo (including the new ownership). I'm not disputing that we've lost quality 16 year olds since we went cat 2. But its cheaper and easier to go cat 1 than spend millions per year holding onto Kieron Dyers and Tyrone Mings when they hit 25. The latter is simply impossible while we're outside the prem, the former is not. I think we agree that we should prioritise being cat 1 over repeated, futile attempts to buy talent in Suffolk when they can go down the road to London instead. Strategise to our strengths: the pedigree of our academy and vibrant local leagues.

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