Joachim can leave Darlington

After weeks of speculation about the future of striker Julian Joachim Darlington manager Dave Penney has confirmed that JJ can leave the club, providing the right offer comes in. It has been suggested that both Lincoln City and Grimsby Town are interested in signing the former Aston Villa front-man.

Julian signed for the club in August last season from Boston United for a club record £100,000 but has failed to make the expected impact. With such a hefty fee being paid for him the club will be looking to get a sum close to £50,000, at least, in return. Following yesterday’s arrival of Ian Harty to the club the Quakers now have 6 strikers, including Shaun Reay, who is a product of the youth team.

Speaking to the Northern Echo manager Dave Penney said:’If somebody comes in with an acceptable bid then we will sit down with Julian and asses that situation.

We don’t want to keep people up here if they’re not happy and if the board are happy with a bid for him then we’ll look to let him move on.

I think the board would like to recoup the majority of the fee they paid for him, and we’re certainly not going to let him go for nothing. We paid good money for him, but for one reason or another he hasn’t quite settled.’