Coventry City’s transfer window ‘option’ among five potential Peterborough United targets
Coventry City’s summer recruitment plans are well underway, leaving Sky Blues fans eager to find out who Mark Robins will be going after to strengthen his impressive core of a squad.
So far four senior players have left the club with Liam Kelly and Simon Moore moving on after coming to the end of their contracts, and Callum O’Hare expected to follow on a free transfer despite being offered a new deal. Luis Binks is the fourth, with the loan defender returning to his parent club Bologna, albeit the 22-year-old wanting to return to England to further his career and Robins admitting “…he’s someone who we want to keep in touch with and see how things go,” suggesting the club may attempt to get him on a permanent basis.
Although everyone else is under contract, don’t be surprised if several other players leave the club over the next few months; players like, for example, Matty Godden who experienced limited game time in the second half of the campaign and has been strongly linked with interest from League One Charlton Athletic. Then there’s goalkeeper Ben Wilson who was limited to just 18 Championship starts, having been the standout City stopper the season before. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the 31-year-old wanted a move to get more regular first team football, coupled with the fact that there’s a case for a new keeper to come in to compete with Brad Collins.
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Other positions that appear obvious for adding to include left-back, which could put question marks over Jake Bidwell’s future despite the defender being a consistent performer and hugely popular with the supporters. Elsewhere, although Ben Sheaf still has two years on his current contract, the former Arsenal prospect will be a wanted man this summer and City will be desperate to keep him. Regardless of what happens, with Kelly leaving the manager will require at least one more holding midfielder and Adi Viveash has indicated that the team could do with a right winger to compete with favourite Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.
In his podcast, The Hard Truth, the out-spoken chairman gave a fascinating insight into the negotiating process between himself and City owner Doug King’s “relentless” pursuit of Mason-Clark. The 47-year-old Irish entrepreneur said: “Doug asked for an option on one of my other players as well, because they like quite a few of our players.”
So who could Dean Austin and his recruitment department have their eyes on next? Here we take a look at the League One side’s hottest players, who might just fit the bill for Mark Robins’ evolving squad.
Harrison Burrows, 22, left-back/left midfielder
The EFL League One Player of the Season came up through Peterborough’s Academy, Burrows made 58 appearances this season, and played over 150 first team games, including 36 in the Championship in 2021/22. Described as a natural midfielder whose defensive work at left-back is coming on quickly, he’s good going forward and an accurate passer, although not the quickest over the ground. He is, however, a lovely crosser of the ball and provided an outstanding 12 goals and 14 assists in all competitions.
Although his contract is up in the summer, Posh have an option of a further year and are fully expected to trigger that, meaning he will cost money.