This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City will demand a fee in the excess of £20 million if they are to let talisman Viktor Gyokeres depart in the summer, as revealed in a report from 90min.com.

As detailed in the report, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leeds United and Leicester City are all continuing to keep tabs on the Swedish striker, whilst it is believed that whoever is promoted from the Championship will join the race.

Currently the second-tier's second top scorer with 18 goals this season, Gyokeres has been showing ability of the higher division throughout the campaign, both from a goalscoring perspective and when considering his overall play.

Set to see his contract expire in the summer of 2024, the Sky Blues remain demanding a high figure for his services, in what will probably be the last window where they will be able to value him as high.

Three of our writers here at FLW have shared their thoughts on the Coventry striker and whether they believe that a fee in the excess of £20 million will be met.

Billy Mulley

It is a difficult situation to fully assess as a Championship player should not be valued at £20 million when they have one year left on their deal but Gyokeres is the real deal and may be worth the investment.

When you factor in the level of interest that has already surfaced for him, and the fact that there will be several top-flight clubs assessing their striking options, it further backs up the valuation Coventry have.

However, parallels can be drawn to the Ben Brereton-Diaz situation last season, whereby the Chilean international was on the radars of a lot of clubs but all these sides were not willing to pay the eight-figure fee.

I think that Coventry may receive offers around the £15 million mark, and it will then be up to them to decide if it is worth cashing in and improving multiple areas, or if keeping Gyokeres will be central to their 2023/24 plans.

Simmey Hannifin-Donaldson

Yes and no.

On the one hand, Gyokeres is excellent and may genuinely have the ability to carry his talent up a level, in which case, clubs will be desperate to snap him up.

On the other hand, though, he does only have one year remaining on his contract at the CBS Arena come the summer, which makes Coventry City's negotiating position less strong than it otherwise might be.

I think a fee somewhere in the region of £15-18 million is most likely, but it wouldn't be a great deal to see him go for £20 million if lots of clubs come in for him.

Adam Jones

Blackburn Rovers were reportedly able to generate around £15m for Adam Armstrong who only had one year left on his contract at Ewood Park at the time.

That should provide the Sky Blues with real hope in their potential quest to secure a sizeable fee for his services this summer - but £20m seems a bit much despite his talent.

£15m may seem more realistic with the Armstrong deal in mind, unless he decides to sign a new deal.

If he does, they could be looking more at £20m or even higher than that, but his current valuation should be around £5m less at this stage.

If Coventry refuse to lower his price tag, they could potentially lose him for free in 2024 and that's the worst possible scenario for them.