"I'm so shocked" - Coventry City told to cut their losses on 26-y/o as Stoke & Blackburn Rovers circle | OneFootball

Our Sky Blues fan pundit wants Brandon Thomas-Asante to leave the club this month amid interest from Blackburn and Stoke

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 been urged to cut their losses on out-of-form striker Brandon Thomas-Asante and sell him to an interested club this month, amid rumours that Blackburn Rovers have put in a transfer bid for his services and that Stoke City are also keen on a move.

Thomas-Asante has experienced a tough five-and-a-half months at the CBS Arena since his move from West Brom for a reported £2.25 million back in August.

The 26-year-old has made just eight Championship starts so far this term under both Mark Robins and current manager Frank Lampard, and has only scored three times in 29 appearances in all competitions up to now.

His poor form since joining the Sky Blues has seen him criticised by fans, and despite Lampard backing him to improve, new reports have suggested that he is set to leave the club at the earliest possible juncture after a tough few months.

Fan pundit urges Coventry to sell Brandon Thomas-Asante in the January window

According to Sky Sports, Blackburn are understood to have offered £1.75m for Thomas Asante as they seek to bolster their attacking options while chasing a play-off spot under John Eustace.

Football Insider's Pete O'Rourke has also claimed that fellow Championship side Stoke have joined Rovers in the race to sign the one-time Ghana international, in a surprising twist of fate, with current Potters boss Robins having already signed him while in charge of Coventry last summer.

Thomas-Asante has started just one of the Sky Blues' last 11 league games, and currently finds himself in competition with the likes of Ellis Simms, Norman Bassette and Fabio Tavares for places up-front in Lampard's side, so it would certainly not be shock to see him leave the club soon.

FLW's Coventry fan pundit, Ryan Murphy, has issued a damning verdict of Thomas-Asante's time at the club so far, and told the Sky Blues' hierarchy to sanction his move away as soon as possible so they can sign a replacement this month.

“Regarding Brandon Thomas-Asante, it feels very, very harsh, and I’ve never had this mindset about a new signing so early, but he looks way off it," Ryan told FLW.

“A complete waste of money. It was a good amount of money that we spent on him.

“I think we all got a bit excited once we signed him because of a cameo performance against us for West Brom, where he came off the bench and scored an absolute worldy into the top corner straight away.

“He looked very fast and it was a fantastic finish. Then you hear he was top goalscorer for West Brom, who aren’t a bad side.

“You’re thinking well, if we can take their top scorer off them to add to what we’ve got with Haji Wright and Ellis Simms, who got a great goal return last season, you’re thinking we’re in a good position.

“However, since he’s been here, he has looked so, so off it. It’s been embarrassing.

“He’s missed a sitter against Cardiff when we were all over them, they were down to ten men and that was the game sealed, but he missed from two yards out.

“Then he did the same again at Norwich when we were 1-0 up and there was 10 minutes left, to put us 2-0 up and win the game, we then go on to lose the game to two injury-time goals.

“He keeps hold of the ball too long, gets tackled every time and instead of feeding someone that’s through on goal he will keep running into a dead end.

“I don’t even know what his best position is. Is he a striker, a winger, what is he?

“It sounds harsh, but honestly I’m so shocked that anyone has come in for him.

“I’d take a loss on him, that’s how bad it’s been. If we can break even on him, then great. If the Blackburn figure that Sky have reported is right, then I would 100% cut our losses.

“Maybe it’ll do him the world of good. Some players just don’t suit certain clubs, as we saw with Viktor Gyokeres when he was at Swansea, and he couldn’t get a sniff at Brighton.

“He came to us and turned into some world-beater. I don’t know why, but sometimes it just clicks at other clubs, and maybe it will for Thomas-Asante if he goes to Blackburn or Stoke, which is rumoured.

“If he does go to Stoke, I’ll be very surprised. It was Mark Robins who signed him here, and I would’ve thought he’d have seen how much of a flop he has been.

“For him to be interested is very, very surprising to me.

“I’d gladly and happily sell, and just go again with someone else.”

Stoke may be a realistic destination for Thomas-Asante this month

Stoke are no strangers to Thomas-Asante, given he netted three times in six games against them in his time at West Brom, and also because he was involved in an awkward challenge with Potters defender Ben Wilmot in April 2023, which left the centre-back sidelined for three months.

Mark Robins is also very familiar with the Ghanaian international, and despite his time at the Sky Blues coming to an end in November after some poor team performances, he may well look to bring in a player that he knows can score relatively regularly in the second-tier to help his current striker issues.

Stoke are seriously short on striker options as it stands after star striker Tom Cannon was recalled back to Leicester City, with Sam Gallagher struggling to stay match-fit, Nathan Lowe unproven at the level, and the likes of Niall Ennis and Emre Tezgel both not performing well enough to earn regular league minutes.

Lowe has been recalled himself from an impressive loan spell at Walsall recently, while Gallagher, who joined from Blackburn in the summer window, has only managed to feature nine times in the Championship this term, with only three starts so far.

As well as that pair, Ennis has been out-of-favour and recently linked with his own exit to the third tier, and 19-year-old Tezgel's progress has slowed down this season with just five substitute appearances from the club's last 18 games.

With that said, Stoke could well revive their previous interest in Thomas-Asante with a bid to rival Rovers soon, but regardless of where he ends up, it does look very likely that the 26-year-old will leave Coventry in the coming weeks.