Coventry City told to avoid "mind-boggling" Hull City deal and seal Man City transfer | OneFootball

FLW's Coventry fan pundit has given his verdict on the club's links to Callum Doyle amid their Charlie Hughes pursuit

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City have been unable to convince Hull City to cash in on Charlie Hughes so far this summer.

According to Coventry Live, the Sky Blues are considering a club record offer for the centre-back after an initial £7 million bid was turned down.

However, Hull manager Sergej Jakirovic has claimed in an interview with the BBC that the 21-year-old is not for sale this summer.

It has also been exclusively revealed by FLW that Coventry are among the Championship sides eyeing a possible deal for Callum Doyle, who is reportedly available for £10 million from Manchester City.

Coventry told to chase Doyle move after Hughes setback

When asked if the club should go all in for Doyle, FLW’s Coventry fan pundit Chris Deez claimed it might make more sense to bring the former Sky Blues loanee back to the team.

He is sceptical of whether Hughes would be worth the possible cost of a deal given he’s only had one strong year at Hull, instead highlighting Doyle’s greater experience and lower asking price for why he would be a better signing right now.

“I don’t really know what to make of the Charlie Hughes situation,” Deez told Football League World.

“I’d obviously be quite happy for him to join us, but the sort of money that Hull are asking for is frankly mind-boggling.

“He’s had one good season for Hull where they very nearly got relegated and stayed up on the last day of the season.

“He had a good season I think it was a couple of years ago at Wycombe, so is it English tax? I don’t know where £15-20 million is being quoted from, it seems very, very high for a 21-year-old who has had two good seasons.

“Doyle obviously we’ve got experience of him because he was here for a season on loan and we really liked him, Man City apparently want £10 million for him.

“I think it’s pretty straightforward, pretty obvious, who we should be going for out of the two.

“Doyle, while also young, I think he’s 21, 22 as well, he’s that little bit more established, he’s had a couple of extra seasons under his belt compared to Hughes.

“And I think it also helps the fact that he’s coming from Man City, so he’s been a part of a world class academy, world class facilities, so I think it’s pretty clear cut.

“I would rather go for Doyle, either one of them is going to be our record signing, lots of expectations, lots of pressure, but we’ve sort of backed ourselves into a corner where we’ve got two fit senior centre-backs, we’ve got Perry, who has come from the academy and we don’t know if he’s ready or not, and Latibeaudiere is our only cover and he’s injured.

“Selling Luis Binks, as much as I’m pleased for him and I’m glad that we got about £2.5 million, we’ve put ourselves in a situation where clubs know we need defenders and we need good, quality defenders.

“So they’re going to sell them to us at a premium, they’re basically going to over-charge us.”

Callum Doyle’s Championship experience

Doyle spent the 2022-23 campaign on loan with Coventry, helping the team reach the play-off final with a fifth place finish in the Championship under Mark Robins.

He has also spent time out on loan with Leicester City and Norwich City, with the former earning promotion to the Premier League during the defender’s time there.

The 21-year-old featured 40 times in the league last season, with the Canaries finishing 13th in the table.

Doyle signing might make more sense for the time being

Hull are setting a big asking price for Hughes, making it clear that they have no intention of selling the defender.

Coventry might be better off focusing their efforts on a more attainable and affordable target with only a few weeks left in the window.

Doyle knows the club and has plenty of Championship experience, and could be signed at £10 million.