Coventry City supporters are mainly unaware of the club’s plans for the January transfer window, despite the fact that their team is currently eighth in the table, playing well, and ready to mount an attack on promotion back to the Premier League.
Since Gustavo Hamer left the Sky Blues in the late summer without being replaced, Mark Robins has shifted his focus from emphasizing the need to bolster his midfield to downplaying the team’s potential to sign players at the mid-term trade window. But when owner Doug King stated in October that he would be “bold” in January if the appropriate deals could be made, acknowledging the midfield gap left by Hamer’s transfer to Sheffield United, perhaps it was a clearer sign.
Supporters are unsure of what to anticipate this month as a result of Robins’ reluctance to be drawn on the topic of incoming moves in previous weeks. However, one thing is abundantly evident: the team has once again put itself in the best possible position to contend for a second straight postseason run.
Like last year, City overcame a slow start to the season to take control of the last 20 games and are currently only three points outside of the top six. Even if there is still a lot of football to be played and a long way till May, Coventry is motivated to give it their all and has some momentum.
That comes from a revamped team that has improved over the past few weeks as the players have started to acclimate to their new playing style. The most recent players to emerge as major players in an intriguing attacking scheme are Haji Wright and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. The American forward leads the scoring statistics with eight goals, while the Japanese forward has six goals overall—five of which have come in his previous four games.
Although things have improved with Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer back to full strength following protracted injuries, there are still significant doubts about O’Hare’s long-term future with the team. Unless City resolves the situation with a lucrative new agreement, the 25-year-old attacking midfielder will be leaving as a free agent in the summer. Arguably, the most important duty for this month is to sort it out.
However, bringing in a few more stars may make all the difference between the Sky Blues winning all the way to the finish line and them losing by a little margin at the last few obstacles. King would almost certainly make an investment in the present window to help his manager give his team the advantage over their opponents in what is sure to be a fiercely contested struggle for the four available play-off spots, given how determined he is to see the club promoted.
Simultaneously with Robins’ silence over the possibility of doing business, there has been minimal conjecture, with only a few names mentioned thus far. The first is Marc Leonard, a midfielder for Brighton who is presently enjoying a lengthy loan at Northampton Town in League One.
The Daily Record claims that the Sky Blues, along with several other rival Championship clubs who are ‘keen’ on the player, are interested in the 22-year-old former Scotland youth international, who has seven caps for his state’s Under-21 team.
Social media rumors have it that City has put in a £2 million bid for Macaulay Langstaff, a prolific scorer in League Two. CoventryLive understands that the 26-year-old is on City’s radar despite not being able to verify that. He has already scored 20 goals from 29 appearances this season, supporting an incredible 42 league goals the previous season that propelled the Magpies back into the Football League and earned him the nickname “Erling Haaland of non-league.” While Haji Wright, Ellis Simms, and Matty Godden are three of Robins’ top strikers/centre-forwards, Langstaff is a little bit different and more of a fox in the box. It would also be logical to recruit a goal poacher with experience, as Fabio Tavares is expected to spend time on loan somewhere.
Regarding departures, Yasin Ayari’s recall to Brighton appears certain as the loan player has fallen in the standings in recent weeks. Simon Moore, Liam Kelly, and even Kyle McFadzean may be on the move as they approach the final months of their contracts and have dropped out of the first team. Robins has already stated elsewhere that a loan move would be advantageous for teenage striker Fabio Tavares.
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