Football League World
·6 November 2024
Football League World
·6 November 2024
FLW's Coventry City fan pundit has offered his transfer valuations for Ben Sheaf and Haji Wright
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Coventry City have established a reputation as a selling club in recent years, having collected significant fees for both Viktor Gyokeres and Gus Hamer.
Mark Robins has a young and progressive squad at his disposal, the ability of which simply hasn't been unlocked in the way many had been expected thus far this season.
However, Coventry evidently have a strategy of increasing their own spending power and squad quality by developing talent and cashing in for sizable profits, and they may well receive some further influxes in the not-too-distant future.
Naturally, their ability to demand a stern asking price is limited somewhat for as long as they're outside the Premier League, and their chances of competing for promotion to the promised land are not currently looking all too rosy, with the Sky Blues only now beginning to find form by claiming back to back victories over Luton Town and Middlesbrough.
However, Football League World's resident Sky Blues fan pundit still believes his side boast two outstanding operators who could net the club some serious cash...
We asked our Coventry fan pundit, Ryan Murphy, to offer his opinion on his team's two most valuable players and he began with Ben Sheaf, who has emerged among the most impressive midfielders at Championship level in recent years.
The Sky Blues skipper earned interest from a number of clubs throughout the summer, including Premier League duo Ipswich Town and Fulham, but chose to stay put in the West Midlands in a bid to help Coventry to promotion.
However, with those hopes faint and the player set to see his deal expire in the summer of 2026, Coventry may need to cash in before long and Ryan believes they should set a strict asking price of £10 million.
"First one being Ben Sheaf, I think his injury record is what's probably put clubs off but it's been well-documented that there was a lot of interest in him in the summer from clubs in the league above," Ryan told Football League World.
"He has ambitions to play at the level above, he is also happy here but I think what may have happened in the summer when this interest came in, him and the club sat down and said 'let's give it one more season, see where we end up'.
"If we don't end up in the Premier League, with only one year left on his deal, he will be sold for sure. I'd say with only one year left, £10 million is probably what you're going to look at, I don't think you'll be getting much more but we wouldn't want to be taking any less either because he's that big of a player for us.
"But £10 million would be pretty short change for a Premier League side, especially a newly-promoted side that could do with a decent midfielder and he would fit that bill."
Meanwhile, Ryan believes that Haji Wright is Coventry's most valuable player, demanding that the club should double their money on him when the time comes.
Wright, who signed for Coventry in a club-record £7.7 million deal in the summer of 2023, scored 19 goals across all competitions last season and looks good value to at least equal that return this time around, having already found the back of the net on six occasions in 2024/25.
As such, Ryan believes that Wright should be worth £15 million.
"Next one would be Haji Wright," Ryan continued.
"He signed for a club record fee of £7.7 million and he started slow, but once he got going he's been scoring goals, getting a lot of assists and we look a much more dangerous side with him in it.
"There definitely will be clubs starting to take an interest in him, and at the least you want to be doubling your money on him and that would be £15 million.
"I think he's a player that could suit playing at a higher level with the way he plays, he can also play wide left and be a handful and get the same amount of goals and assists as he does up-front, so he can play in a number of positions and be a real threat.
"He's at a good age, an international player as well, so I would say the minimum you'd want is £15 million, doubling your money on Haji Wright."