GunnersGunners
Assessing the Sky Blues squad ahead of the new season

Assessing the Sky Blues squad ahead of the new season

Russell Webster
Russell Webster
JUL 31, 2025

Feast and famine

Well it's August tomorrow, so hopes and fears for the new season are reaching fever pitch (apologies to Nick Hornby). With 9 days to go, has Frankie Lampard strengthened the squad sufficiently to get us back where we belong?

In all honesty, it's been a quiet transfer season so far. There have been just three arrivals: we've spent £2.2m on Kaine Kessler-Hayden and hoovered up keeper Carl Rushworth on loan from Brighton and left back Miguel Angel Brau on a free from Granada.

On the outgoing side, Luis Binks was sold to Brondby for £2.5m on Tuesday because he was looking for more minutes (fair enough, really), Fabio Tavares (who I always liked as a sub) has made his move to Burton permanent, going on a free.

Milan van Ewijk is probably on his way out (given Kessler-Hayden's arrival, not that surprising).

Analysis

So where does that leave us? We've got three fit keepers, with Dovin hopefully recovering from his cruciate damage before Christmas making four, plenty of full backs and lots of competitors for the midfield places. Having only three centre backs is a worry but more concerning than that are the unknowables.

It's the time of year when all Championship clubs have to have Plans A, B, C & D in case some rich, greedy Premiership team fails to get the international superstar they've been promising their supporters all summer (believe it or not, some people don't fancy signing for Everton or Sunderland - sorry for mentioning the Rokerites so soon after last May's daylight robbery). They then look to plunder Championship teams of their best players just when the manager has spent 5 weeks of pre-season drilling a new formation. Rumours of Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni moving on have been with us all summer and we won't know for sure until the transfer window closes at 7 p.m. on Monday September 1st by which time we will already have played four league games and one EFL tie (at home to Luton). Jack keeps telling us how much he loves playing for Frank, but could he resist a move to the Prem?

Quiz Answers

Regular readers (😂) will remember that in a recent article demanding that broadcasters stop calling us "Frank Lampard's Coventry City", I set you a quiz -

Name the four post-war teams to have both won the FA Cup AND never lost a final.

The answer is: the mighty Sky Blues (obvs), Ipswich, Wimbledon & Wigan.

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