FLW discusses Haji Wright’s improving form at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Coventry City has struggled this season after reaching the play-off final and coming close to making it to the Premier League.
- The club lost key players like Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer in the summer transfer window.
- Haji Wright, a summer signing from Antalyaspor, has started to find form and has scored three goals in the last five matches, contributing to the team’s recent improved performance.
Whatever way you look at it, Coventry City are not where they want to be in the Championship standings currently.
After reaching the play-off final last season, and coming within a penalty shootout of the Premier League, things have been much tougher for the Sky Blues this time around.
Indeed, even after back to back victories at the weeked agaisnt Millwall and in midweek against Plymouth Argyle, the Sky Blues sit just 15th in the division, and were 20th before those two victories.
Of course, having lost a couple of very key players in the summer, it was always going to be difficult to repeat last season’s heroics.
Viktor Gyokeres – last season’s top scorer – was sold to Sporting in Portugal for a fee in the region of £20 million, for example, whilst midfield dynamo Gustavo Hamer joined Premier League side Sheffield United in a similarly lucrative deal for the Sky Blues, worth a reported £15 million.
Who did Coventry City sign last summer?
Of course, to replace Gyokeres, Hamer, and other departees, the club dipped into the transfer market heavily this summer, with 11 new arrivals at the CBS.
Nine of these were permanent, and two on loan.
| Coventry City – 2023/24 Signings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player Name | Signed From | Loan/Permanent |
| Haji Wright | Antalyaspor | Permanent |
| Ellis Simms | Everton | Permanent |
| Liam Kitching | Barnsley | Permanent |
| Milan van Ewijk | Heerenveen | Permanent |
| Bobby Thomas | Burnley | Permanent |
| Tatsuhiro Sakamoto | KV Oostende | Permanent |
| Brad Collins | Barnsley | Permanent |
| Jay Dasilva | Bristol City | Permanent |
| Joel Latibeaudiere | Swansea City | Permanent |
| Yasin Ayari | Brighton | Loan |
| Luis Binks | Bologna | Loan |
To replace the goals of Gyokeres, one player that was signed was Haji Wright.
The American forward joined the Sky Blues from Turkish side Antalyaspor for a reported fee of £7.7 million.
Slow start, but improving
Despite the fee paid, it has been a relatively slow start to life in Coventry for Wright, scoring one goal in his first nine Championship appearances.
His mixed form saw him in and out of the side, but in recent weeks, Wright has turned a corner.
Not only has he started five consecutive matches for the first time this season, Wright has scored three times in this period, too.
The 25-year-old netted two goals in the 3-2 defeat away at Preston earlier this month, and again last night in a 1-0 victory over Plymouth, although somewhat fortunately.
The point is, though, Wright appears to have turned a corner, and as Coventry City look to climb up the Championship rankings, this is exactly what they need.
They need their summer signings to step up, and recently, Wright has certainly shown an improvement.
In their last three, with Wright in the side, the Sky Blues have won twice and drawn the other, which perhaps suggests they themselves may be able to find some consistency, too.
That’s not to say Wright, or Coventry themselves, have been perfect, but it is little runs like the one that they are currently on that will get them where they want to be this season, and Wright, if he continues to show his recent form, could be a big part of that.
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