Coventry City have added just two new faces to the squad that won promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.
The Sky Blues have enjoyed their time under Frank Lampard. The former midfielder took them from around the relegation zone to the play-offs in 2024-25 and then to the league title in 2025-26. All of this in just 18 months at the CBS Arena.
Now, they prepare for life in the Premier League for the first time in 25 years. However, the squad is still almost entirely the same from the one that was playing in the Championship a couple of months ago.
What do Coventry City need to survive in the Premier League?
Goalkeeper
This is an absolute must – and one that Coventry City are working hard to solve. Brighton and Hove Albion loanee Carl Rushworth had a great campaign in the Championship last year. However, the Sky Blues have yet to agree to a deal with the Seagulls to bring him back on a permanent basis.
As of the time of writing, the only goalkeepers in their books are back-ups Oliver Dovin and Ben Wilson. The former hasn’t played a competitive game since March 2025 and the latter played just three games last season, all in cup ties.
Rushworth made it to the EFL Championship Team of the Season, won the Golden Glove and led the division in a number of statistics.
He ranked first in clean sheets (17), fewest goals conceded per game (0.97), big chances created (2) and second in goals prevented (+6.8).
It does feel like a matter of time before Coventry and Brighton agree on a fee and all signs point towards Rushworth remaining a Sky Blue. But it’s their main priority seeing as they don’t even have a starting option for Championship level, let alone the Premier League.
Striker
Another position of need is striker. But Coventry can find comfort in still having a few options that had their moments in the title-winning campaign last season.
Haji Wright finished third in the Golden Boot race, scoring 17 goals in 40 games. However, he did lose the starting spot for a while and, despite the decent return, still underperformed his expected goals tally (18.3 xG). Additionally, seven of his 17 goals had an xG value of 0.50 or higher.
Ellis Simms was his back-up all year and did bag a hat-trick on final day, taking his tally to 13 goals in 43 matches and averaging one every 127 minutes. But he is even less of a reliable option at top-flight level. Brandon Thomas-Asante can do a job up front but is more of a wide second striker than a proper number nine.
Coventry relied on their attacking game to find success in the Championship, but they can’t count on that in the Premier League. Signing a striker who not only gets in goalscoring positions but is also more efficient when they come should be a priority.
Winger/Centre-back
These positions are a little more tricky. Coventry rely heavily on wide combinations and crosses into the box in the attacking phase. Thomas-Asante, Ephron Mason-Clarke and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto were great in the second tier but are all unproven in the top flight.
Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching formed a fine centre-back partnership but the Sky Blues should have better options.
And they did bring in players for both those positions. The question is whether the new signings are good enough to respond at Premier League level.
Aurele Amenda brings a towering presence at the back, which should help them defend their own box and clear out crosses from the opposition. Standing at 6-foot-4, the Swiss defender won 73% of his aerial duels for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga last season. But he did struggle to defend in space, too.
Up front, Coventry signed Loum Tchaouna from Burnley. The Frenchman was a constant presence for Scott Parker’s side, playing 29 games and racking up 2 goals and 1 assist. He does have pace and looks to take defenders on, but found little success doing so in the Premier League, completing just 33% of his attempted dribbles.
Premier League experience and overall quality?
In one hand, the Sky Blues did address those specific needs on the wings and at the back. But they might have done with players that aren’t good enough to elevate the level of the team to the required heights in order to survive.
Jack Rudoni is arguably their best player but struggled for fitness last campaign. Frank Onyeka and Matt Grimes formed a brilliant midfield duo in the Championship. But the former struggled to establish himself as a Premier League starter at Brentford in previous years and the latter has just four games of top-flight experience – all at Swansea over 10 years ago.
It would be ideal for Coventry to provide Frank Lampard with more Premier League-proven players or just more talent overall. There is potential in Tchaouna, Amenda and even Rushworth. But nothing to suggest they are close to being ‘sure things’ in the top flight.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done if the Sky Blues want to increase their chances of surviving.