There was a time when Coventry City relied heavily on the loan market to top up its squad with added quality that the club might otherwise be unable to afford as part of its permanent business.
In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a season when the Sky Blues didn’t take advantage of the loan system over the last 30 years prior to the 2024/25 campaign when the club was in the unique position to be the only side in the Championship not to have a single player borrowed from a higher placed team.
Loans can be hit and miss and City have probably had more failures than successes over the years. The standout hits include the outstanding trio of Jacob Murphy, Adam Armstrong and Ryan Kent who set League One alight under Tony Mowbray for the first half of 2015/16, while more latterly the likes of Ian Maatsen, Callum Doyle and Luke McNally have impressed during season-long stays.
With the 2025 transfer window now open for business, fans are eagerly awaiting news of new signings with Doug King expected to back head coach Frank Lampard in what is his first big opportunity to stamp his mark with his own players. Lampard has made use of the loan market in the past, most notably while manager at Derby County a few years ago when he went back to his former club, Chelsea, as well as tapped into the talent at Liverpool for the likes of Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Harry Wilson.
But will he do the same at City? Here’s a reminder of what head of recruitment Dean Austin said just a few months ago back in November about the club’s stance on loans, explaining the “complications” of utilising the market to supplement City’s Championship squad.
Austin said: “I think there are complications around loans. The chairman has invested a lot of money in this club in terms of buying players, and we have bought a lot since he and I have been at the club.
“The loan situation is complicated because normally the best loans in terms of the situation we’re in now to before the owner came in when we were feeding off those loans has changed. We had to get them in to help the team to function before.
“We weren’t so much in that position last summer but we’ve always been very open (to loans), never closed any doors. The problem is with loans, with the calibre of players we have been looking at – because that calibre has gone up – there have been some great calibre loans who might have out-performed what we expected them to do, firstly, but when you have got a deck like we have got now – probably two weeks before the end of the window we had 19 or 20 outfield players, and all pretty new players on longer contracts. If we bring loan players in, loan players expect to come in and play. And their clubs expect them to play.
“So, for example, Yasin Ayari. He was a player we identified who we really liked last season, went through it with Mark (Robins) and he was really happy with Yasin. And if you asked Mark (Robins) today he would say he thought Yasin would be a super player.
“For Yasin, it took him a little bit of time to get going and he didn’t play as much football as he would have liked. You then get a situation where you get his agent involved and then his club involved where they have loaned him out to us and they really want to see him have more minutes on the field.
“But we don’t control that, that’s down to the manager or head coach. He has got his deck of players and he manages that deck of players. It was very amicable with Yasin. We had a good relationship with Brighton and the agent but they didn’t feel he was getting enough minutes here and therefore they wanted him to move onto the next club, which was Blackburn, where he did exactly the same as what he did here. But now he’s had a summer and an extra year of experiences and now he’s playing for Brighton. It’s just the way it works.”
He added: “Whether we like it or not, we also have a relationship to keep with clubs. So for example, Man City. We had Callum Doyle and Josh Wilson-Esbrand here two years ago. Callum came in and shot the lights out early doors when they didn’t think he would and Man City didn’t think he would, so there was an understanding that Callum would take time to find his feet. He came in and played fantastically well.”
Reflecting on his first task when he joined the club, Austin said: “When I came in here we were looking at left-back, right-back or left and right wing-backs and centre-backs. And the chairman at the time said there would be money to go and buy. Mark, at that time, wanted Josh Wilson-Esbrand, who was his number one target even before I came in. And I came in to a bit of a whirlwind because all the scouts had left and I was on my own.
“So Josh came in but he only started seven games, I think. Agents dictate what we do, OK. So if we bring high calibre loan players in from high calibre clubs and these boys aren’t good enough to get in our first team, we are then not going to help our relationship with these clubs moving forward.
“Brooke Norton-Cuffy came in and did very well. Luke McNally was brought in and we tried to do a deal to give ourselves an option to buy him if he did well but Burnley wouldn’t do it. Then the following summer Burnley priced him out of the market and off we jogged because they wanted so much money for him, it was ridiculous. The recruitment team then come in with the next batch of players.”
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