Coventry City’s Dave Boddy is committed to fighting hard in the transfer market this summer.
The club’s chief executive has reassured fans that the club will not be a soft touch when it comes to negotiating over key players during the off-season.
The Sky Blues hierarchy are set to help Mark Robins compete again next season as the club looks to secure promotion to the Premier League.
It has been a difficult few years for the club financially during their League One and Two days, but that doesn’t mean they will be walked all over when teams make offers for some key players, such as Gustavo Hamer or Callum O’Hare - the latter who is being watched by Tottenham Hotspur.
Viktor Gyokeres is another that the club is anticipating offers for, but Boddy has insisted that it will take a lot of money to let go of the club’s big three players, with the striker linked with a move to Fulham this morning.
“There’s clearly going to be a lot of interest in our players this summer because of the success that we have had, and the success that they have had this season,” said Boddy, via Coventry Live.
“Market forces will always dictate what happens to players but we will not let players go for anything less than we believe to be the market value.
“We are not looking to sell anybody. We are trying to protect them all and I think we have shown that ambition by extending their contracts during the season.
“But if people do come knocking they’ll get short shrift unless they come up with the values that we believe the players are worth. And even then we will fight it.
“But the market dictates what players do sometimes. We are not looking to sell and will do our best to protect our assets but we won’t be giving players away, that’s for sure.”
The striker has 17 league goals for the team this season, which has helped the club to 11th in the Championship table going into the final round of fixtures.
The gap to the play-offs is now insurmountable, so Robins’ side will be competing in the second division again next season, for the third year in a row.
This campaign has seen the club improve on their 16th place finish last year, in which the team earned 55 points.
A win on the final day of the season against Stoke City could take the team as high as 9th if results elsewhere go in their favour, with a possible points tally of 66.
The Verdict
Coventry have done well to bring the club to this level after such a difficult previous few years.
This has been achieved by being shrewd in the transfer market and avoiding overspending in a league where that is rife.
But the team’s best players have now caught the attention of top quality opponents so it will be a difficult task to keep this side together this summer.
However, if the club can earn good money and re-invest wisely then there is no reason why the team cannot be competitive again next season.