Coventry City are in fantastic form, with the play-off places within touching distance following a late victory over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday afternoon.
An Ellis Simms brace handed the Sky Blues another three points, with the second of his two goals coming in the 92nd minute as he capitalised on a James Beadle mistake at Hillsborough to secure his side their sixth league win in seven games.
Frank Lampard has turned the team’s fortunes around since taking over at the CBS Arena in November, with their home form helping significantly in their push for the play-offs.
Coventry are now seventh in the Championship table, just one point behind West Bromwich Albion, who occupy the final position in the top six. However, for one player, he has found consistency hard to come by since the former Chelsea and Derby County manager arrived.
Verdict made on Norman Bassette’s future
Norman Bassette joined the Sky Blues in the summer from French side SM Caen, and he arrived in England with an excellent reputation, having already picked up his first senior cap for Belgium.
However, in recent weeks, he has found it more difficult to get time on the pitch, and the form of Brandon Thomas-Asante and Simms is stopping him from breaking into the starting XI once again.
Football League World has asked their Coventry Fan Pundit, Chris Deez, if there are fears that this lack of game time could see the 20-year-old’s development stall, and if the upper end of the Championship is too high of a level for him at the moment.
He told FLW: “Norman Bassette is the kind of player that every fan wants at their club. He’s passionate, he gets stuck in, he riles up players on the other team. He gets players booked, he’s a very hot-headed young, arrogant player and he’s very confident in himself.
“Maybe he’s too confident, but he’s the kind of player that you absolutely love having. He’s still very young, he’s a little bit naive and immature. He came in and started doing a pretty decent job.
“He scored a couple of fairly important goals against Sheffield United and got us the win against Portsmouth. But he’s just not been consistent enough. It’s that simple. Maybe that comes down to his youth and his inexperience.
“Frank Lampard obviously likes him, but I think it’s pretty obvious to see Lampard is currently thinking Thomas-Asante and Simms are his forward line and I don’t really see where Bassette fits in anymore, especially when Haji Wright comes back from injury.”
Chris continued: “At the minute, Bassette is being reduced to coming on for two or three minute appearances to close out games. So, as much as I really like him, I think a move away would probably be really good for him and really good for his development.
“He could join a top end League One club, but I think he can do a job even in the Championship at a team like Derby, Hull, Plymouth. They’re the kind of teams that need to start scoring some goals to get themselves out of the positions that they’re in.
“I really, really like the kid. I don’t see him being here in sort of like three, four or five-year’s time, I think he will eventually be moved on, especially with the kind of players that we hope Lampard is going to be able to attract.”
| Norman Bassette Coventry City stats 2024/25 (FotMob)* | |
|---|---|
| Appearances (starts) | 21 (11) |
| Minutes played | 861 |
| Goals (assists) | 2 (0) |
| xG | 4.8 |
| Shots (on target) | 18 (7) |
| Pass accuracy | 66.2% |
| Chances created | 3 |
| Dribble success | 33.3% |
| Touches (in opposition box) | 208 (48) |
| *Stats correct as of 17/02/2025 | |
Bassette may find himself out on loan in the summer
Coventry are one of the form teams in the Championship right now, and few in the division would like to face them while they are picking up points as they are doing.
Performances have not been perfect, but the Sky Blues are finding different ways to win games. Bassette, however, has not been able to have as much an impact on these matches as he would like and a loan away in the summer could be the perfect way to help his development.
Those at the bottom of the Championship would welcome a player with such determination, while he may find a move to League One as the perfect way to score goals consistently.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that Lampard will give him the opportunity to play for a considerable amount of time with the next few weeks crucial to Coventry’s season.
Discussion about this post