Coventry City should rival Leicester City for clinical striker | OneFootball

Coventry City should rival east midlands rivals Leicester City over the signing of Wycombe Wanderers attacker Richard Kone.

Coventry City will be expected to challenge for promotion this season, and the Sky Blues are remaining active in the summer transfer window.

Having reached the play-off semi-finals last season, before a dramatic loss to Sunderland after extra-time at the Stadium of Light, Frank Lampard will be expected to have Coventry once again knocking on the door of the Premier League after his first pre-season with the club.

Coventry have been ambitious in the transfer market for the last couple of seasons, and they are reportedly interested in a club-record deal to sign Hull City centre-back Charlie Hughes, too.

Richard Kone enjoyed a magnificent season for Wycombe in League One last season, and is reportedly the subject of interest from Coventry’s east midlands rivals Leicester City.

With the Foxes in the hunt, and Wycombe supposedly set to lower the asking price for the 22-year-old forward, Coventry should ensure they get themselves in the race and pounce on what could prove to be a decisive transfer.

Kone suits the style and the personnel at Coventry

Kone image credit - Benji Walker (@benjiwalkerphoto)

At Wycombe last season, Matt Bloomfield, in the first-half of the campaign, had the Chairboys challenging for the title with an extremely impressive and attacking style of football.

The focal point of their impressive attack was Kone, who moved to Adams Park from non-league side Athletic Newham in the January transfer window of 2024.

Having settled in for a few months in Buckinghamshire, Kone became instrumental to a Wycombe side that eventually missed out on promotion in the League One play-offs last season.

The departure of Bloomfield did lead to a drop-off in his productivity in front of goal, with Kone having scored 16 of his 18 League One goals last year by the end of January.

A major reason for that will come down to the slight tweak in the style of football, with Bloomfield’s replacement, Mike Dodds, bringing in a more controlled approach that didn’t quite accentuate the skills of Kone.

At Coventry, though, that should not be the case because, whilst Lampard may be more pragmatic, he remains an attacking manager and the style of transitional football played at full throttle is something Lampard thrives at, and something Kone has proven himself to be ideally suited to.

If Lampard was to play with the back three again this season - as he did for sections of last season - with a 3-4-1-2 or a 3-5-2, then Kone has also, whilst with Wycombe, shown an excellent ability to link the play and bring other attackers into the game.

With the likes of Haji Wright, Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante presenting a different profile, they would likely complement Kone’s game, able to run and play off the Ivorian forward.

Coventry have done good business in the EFL

Coventry have often done good business in terms of scouting across the three divisions of the EFL, and recruiting accordingly, often successfully.

The Sky Blues will likely have some extra cash to burn this summer, too, with Milan van Ewijk close to a deal with Wolfsburg, as well as the windfall from Viktor Gyokeres’ move from Sporting CP to Arsenal.

Southampton have also reportedly made an approach - which has been rejected - for Jack Rudoni, in what could be another potential avenue for a big Sky Blues payday this summer.

Coventry have made a habit of picking up talented attackers from League One, like Ephron Mason-Clark from Peterborough United, and Kone is the latest young forward to have torn up the division and seemingly be destined for better things.

Coventry have their work cut out if they do pursue Kone, with Leicester interested, but the style of player that he is, as well as his quality, would give them a major boost in their attacking department as they push for Premier League promotion.