Doug King transfer claim should excite Coventry City supporters as Gus Hamer issue continues: Opinion
The Sky Blues’ failure to really replace Hamer in the summer transfer window remains their biggest problem heading into January in two months time
Coventry City had something of a whirlwind summer in the fallout of the events of the Championship play-off final at Wembley.
The Sky Blues were cruelly denied a place back in the Premier League for the first time in 22 years by a penalty shootout against Luton Town, where defensive stalwart Fankaty Dabo’s miss saw the Hatters go up and City stay down.
It was a fantastic opportunity to make it back among England’s upper echelons, especially when you factor in that they had both Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres at their dominant best over the course of the entire 2022-23 campaign.
The pair had shone in the season prior too, but they upped their levels considerably to help guide Mark Robins’ side into the top six, past Middlesbrough in a cagey two-legged semi-final, but they weren’t quite enough against Luton.
Winning promotion was their best chance to keep Gyokeres and Hamer, but when that didn’t happen, the writing was on the wall and the Swedish striker headed for Portugal with Sporting CP, whilst Coventry’s Dutch maestro got his Premier League move to Sheffield United.
Coventry City’s summer transfer business
Coventry replaced Gyokeres, however, with an aggressive double move in the summer transfer window – after beating off stiff competition to land Ellis Simms from Everton, they then broke their long-standing transfer record in a £7.7 million deal for United States international Haji Wright.
Whilst both of those players are yet to really start firing and live up to their price tags at the Coventry Building Society Arena, the search for a Hamer replacement didn’t go as well for the club.
Admittedly, the recruitment team and Robins had less time to deal with Hamer’s exit than Gyokeres, but they were left scrambling around and only ended up bringing in Brighton youngster Yasin Ayari on loan – a creative player but not a long-term replacement for Hamer and definitely not in the same mould as him.
| 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
|
Coventry are struggling somewhat in the middle of the park thanks to their inability to fully replace Hamer within a few weeks, but thankfully owner Doug King has a plan.
What has Doug King said about Coventry’s plan to replace Gustavo Hamer?
Speaking at a Fans Forum on Monday night, King revealed that the club will go into the January transfer window at the start of 2024 with the intent to source out Hamer’s successor in the middle of the park.
“Obviously I am aware and we are aware of the midfield situation and we’re working,” King said, per the Coventry Telegraph.
“If we find the right kind of deal that works for us with the right type of player then we’ll probably be bold and probably get involved.
“But for me, it’s never clear until it’s clear.
“And so you just have to keep going and do your work and if something turns up which you think is the right value for the situation then that will be where we’ll target.
“But it certainly will not be like the summer.”
So, whilst there won’t be lots of players coming in for seven-figure fees like what happened in the summer window, Coventry are at least going to be active, but you get the feeling that the club are going to have to search far and wide for that ideal Hamer replacement.
When he arrived in 2020, Hamer had two full seasons of Eredivisie football under his belt, but those kinds of players at that level are getting more and more expensive to sign.
Hamer was not the finished article either when he signed three years ago from PEC Zwolle, and his discipline certainly needed working on, but when he put it all together last season, he was energetic, combative, creative, and also a goalscorer.
It is exciting though that Coventry are on the lookout and scouting for that player who will fill the void left by the 26-year-old, but they may have to pay a few million pounds to sort that position out come January.
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