A few key Sky Blues players are expected to leave after the conclusion of the 2023–24 campaign.
Coventry City underwent a significant reshaping during the summer transfer window, with manager Mark Robins being able to bolster his team thanks to the sales of Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer.
Gyokeres set a new club record for the Sky Blues when Sporting Clube de Portugal spent close to £20 million to sign the Swede in July. A month later, Hamer left the club for £15 million to join Sheffield United.
Gyokeres and Hamer’s contracts expired in the summer of 2024, thus Cov had to either persuade them to stay at the CBS Arena longer or urge them to leave; they chose to go. What about the players whose contracts ARE set to expire at the end of June 2019? Let’s look at the four players on Robins’ team who will be leaving if their contracts are not renewed.
Callum O’Hare
O’Hare would likely be Coventry’s most valuable asset at the moment if he were still under contract for a time, especially if he hadn’t had recent injury issues.
O’Hare, an Aston Villa youth product, joined the Sky Blues on loan in 2019 and played a significant role in their promotion-winning team in the 2019–20 season. Before the season was cut short due to COVID–19, the Sky Blues advanced via PPG (points per game). O’Hare contributed to six goals. O’Hare was a creative sensation for Coventry in the Championship, and that drew Burnley’s attention last summer. Vincent Kompany made a major effort to try and get the small midfielder.
Any prospective sale, however, was thwarted by a severe hamstring injury that kept him out of action until the 2022–23 season began. When he did return to action in October 2022, O’Hare only played in 11 games before suffering a brutal knee injury before the year was out.
O’Hare’s season was over after that, and he hasn’t been seen since. It is impossible to predict how he will feel when he eventually returns to competitive activity, which is predicted to happen very soon. O’Hare may not have signed a new deal yet because of this uncertainty because nothing may be on the table until he can demonstrate his fitness.
It would be terrible if the 25-year-old didn’t bring back the same player, but there must be faith in his continued skill.
Liam Kelly
Kelly, who has been a part of Mark Robins’ team since Coventry’s League Two days, has been around the longest and is still contributing at the age of 33.
The seasoned midfielder’s appearances have decreased recently due to many injuries that have kept Kelly out of the lineup during the seasons, but in 2023–24, he has been starting frequently in the backfield. It would be surprising if Kelly didn’t receive a contract extension for another year if he can show he still has anything to contribute at the end of the season.
Kyle McFadzean
McFadzean, another seasoned member of the Sky Blues team, has consistently improved with age and has been the anchor of the Robins’ defense since his 2019 debut for several seasons.
The 36-year-old has been a mainstay at the back when healthy, but you have to question how much longer the no-nonsense defender has to play in the second tier. McFadzean might have one more season left, but Coventry signed younger center backs over the summer, so there’s a potential he’ll start to see fewer games going forward.
Simon Moore
Moore, who was signed in 2021 to compete with Ben Wilson, was the first-choice stopper in his debut season. However, when Wilson overtook Moore early in 2022–2023, the 33-year-old is now third-choice with the signing of Brad Collins.
There is little possibility that Moore will sign a new contract unless he is OK with being third in charge because there is little indication that he will ever play a significant match for the Sky Blues again.
