Much to the pleasure of Sky Blues supporters, Coventry City revealed very late on deadline day that they had signed Peterborough United winger Ephron Mason-Clark.
The 24-year-old cost the club £4.25 million to sign when he moved to the Coventry Building Society. He will play on loan at the Posh for the remainder of the season before joining the Sky Blues in time for the 2024–25 campaign. Doug King’s cooperation allowed the winger to return to London Road, which reduced the fee by £750,000.
Mason-Clark’s inability to play for Coventry until the following season is not ideal, but the only way to complete the move was for him to return to Posh right away. Posh chairman Darragh MacAnthony refused to approve the transfer without an immediate return clause because he was unable to find a replacement in time.
The 2023–2024 season of Ephron Mason-Clark at Peterborough United
This season, the 24-year-old has made 38 appearances for the League One team, scoring 15 goals and dishing out eight assists.
With this, he now leads the team in goals scored across all competitions. Championship clubs were bound to take an interest in him given his performance this year.
In the summer of 2022, he moved to United from National League team Barnet. Since then, he has made 84 appearances, scoring 25 goals and dishing out 18 assists for a total of 43 goal contributions.
Perhaps explaining why Peterborough originally set their asking price at £5 million, it is alleged that the player’s former club Barnet will get a seven-figure fee from the player’s transfer to Coventry as part of a sell-on.
We wanted to hear what Coventry City fans thought of the move as the Sky Blues spent a lot of money to bring Mason-Clark to the team. FLW’s Sky Blues fan pundit Neil Littlewood shared his opinions on whether or not the forward is worth the money.
Coventry City’s deal to sign Ephron Mason-Clark could turn out to be a bargain
Neil said Football League World, “I think £4 million is about right.”
“He is a young man with enormous potential.
“His goals and assists in League One this season demonstrate his potential.
“It appears like Callum O’Hare may be leaving us. Is he going to take O’Hare’s place? A lot of Cov fans believe O’Hare is a £15–£20 million player, so if we’re spending £4.25 million on a replacement who can at least match part of the form, I think we got a good deal.
“It is encouraging to see the club investing funds.” For the last five, six, and seven years, we have survived off of loans, freebies, and little transfer fees.
“We made it to the EFL Trophy final seven years ago yesterday, and that season we were relegated to League Two.
“We signed Stuart Beavon, Nathan Clarke, and Michael Folivi on loan from Watford during that transfer window; I don’t recall any of them kicking a ball for us.
The fact that we can now afford to spend that kind of money only goes to demonstrate how far we’ve gone as a team.
I don’t think we overpaid in that regard, but I’m not overly thrilled that we have to give him back.
“I understand why the trade was made, but I believe we needed reinforcements this window in order to help bolster the play-off drive.
However, the fact that it is over the top and that it is a four-and-a-half year contract indicates that he is committed to us, so it makes some sense.
Mason-Clark is still tearing up League One, so fans have something to look forward to even though the Sky Blues followers will have to wait until August at the latest to see him play for the team.
