Coventry’s Coventry City news and opinions as we examine the potential roadblocks for a challenging summer transfer window
There’s a lot of disagreement around what Coventry City should be doing correctly this summer. Our combined expertise over the past few years has taught us a lot about what not to do wrong, potential hazards, and blunders people can’t afford to do again.
Doug King is in charge of the summer transfer window for the second time, together with head of recruiting Dean Austin and his group, and a lot of faith is being placed in them to make everything work. Here is the anti-bible for the next two and a half months leading up to deadline day, with two signings already finalized and negotiations far advanced on the other ones.
Nobody anticipates that the Sky Blues will spend manager Mark Robins has said that City’s business will “not be insignificant” as he wants to add strength, quality, and a few more bodies to his squad. This is in contrast to last summer, when ten new signings were made in tandem with fourteen departures.
The players you bring in must obviously be talented, but a major signing gone wrong in particular is a disaster for everyone.
Everyone is filled with excitement and optimism when the club makes a significant acquisition that works out, even if it’s only paying a relatively little £1.2 million on Tatsuhiro Sakamoto in the context of a Championship team without parachute payments. This is especially true when the team works to advance and close the gap to the Premier League.
When it mattered most, towards the conclusion of the previous season, Mark Robins made no secret of the fact that his team lacked strength, depth, and quantity. A great FA Cup run combined with injuries and a packed schedule ultimately prevented the club from contending for the playoffs.
The team, which frequently had a few inexperienced players on the bench, found it difficult to gain points in league games that should have moved them closer to a top six spot as the season came to a close. We cannot permit that to occur once more.
While an increasing injury list can be debilitating at times and luck can play a role, in this instance City was simply short-handed. There is harmony in be struck, naturally, and Robins won’t want too many as that may create additional issues with satisfying elite players. However, he needs enough high-quality protection to weather any storm, including a persistent push for the postseason.
Due to the massive player turnover of last summer, the team was compelled to respond to the market in a reactive manner. The departure of top players like Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer allowed City to rebuild and add quality to their new-look squad. Ellis Simms and Haji Wright, who each scored 19 goals across all competitions, helped to fill the goal void left by the Sweden international.
But City paid a heavy price for not finding a similarly dynamic midfielder to replace Hamer, even though they weren’t easy to locate. Victor Torp was brought in January, but even the manager acknowledged that the midfielder was really only meant for this summer since he needed time to get used to the new surroundings and adapt to the Championship’s demanding conditions.
At right-back and on the right flank, where Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk had little to no direct competition or cover, City ended up being light. That culminated when Van Ewijk wanted to move forward after Sakamoto suffered a significant back injury, forcing center back Joel Latibeaudiere to fill in at full back.
The majority of managers aim to have two players contending for each position on the field, but too many times during the previous season, Robins had to settle for less.
