Alex Mitchell became Nathan Jones' fourth signing of the summer on Monday afternoon.
After an extremely impressive season at Lincoln City, Mitchell is very much a player on the up. But the powerful centre-back has had to fight to get to this point.
A rower as well as a footballer in his youth, Mitchell, who has no relation to fellow Charlton defender Zach Mitchell, started playing for the New Windsor Kestrels when he was seven. He had trials with Brentford, Reading, Wycombe and Aldershot, before he began to focus more on rowing.
A call out of the blue from Millwall came, and given that it was his day off from rowing, Mitchell was able to go in for a trial. Before long, he was signed.
He made an instant impact, being voted the Lions’ Academy Schoolboy of the Year in his first season with the club.
Mitchell quickly rose through the ranks successful loan spells at Bromley and Leyton Orient in 2020/21 and 2021/22 saw the defender make 10 and 30 appearances respectively.
Next up for Mitchell was a loan spell in the Scottish Premiership with St Johnstone, where he played 29 times in the league and scored his first senior goal - a 93rd-minute equaliser against Ange Postecoglou's Celtic. It was an impressive campaign for the then-21-year-old, who was named as the club’s Young Player of the Year.
It was at Lincoln last season where Mitchell continued his development, featuring 41 times for an Imps side that boasted Sky Bet League One’s second-best defensive record in 2023/24.
Per 90 minutes, Mitchell won 6.56 aerial duels and 5.48 defensive duels, as well as making five interceptions and 4.35 clearances. In the 41 games the big centre-back played in all competitions, the defence kept an impressive 17 clean sheets.
Lincoln began a remarkable run from February onwards that would last until the end of the campaign, winning 12 of their last 17 - including a 5-1 win at Barnsley and a 6-0 win over Cambridge United. They would eventually miss out on the play-offs on the final day by just two points.
Mitchell also played in the heart of defence as Lincoln knocked Premier League side Sheffield United out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after a goalless draw in August 2023.
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