"Buying potential" - Coventry City facing future £10m outlay | OneFootball

FLW's verdict on the £6 million agreement between Coventry City and Huddersfield Town

Highlights

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 have confirmed the arrival of Jack Rudoni from Huddersfield Town.

According to Alan Nixon, the deal has cost the Sky Blues £6 million, with the potential for it to rise to £10 million through add-ons.

The Terriers suffered relegation to League One last season, which raised some doubts over the futures of some of their key players, like Rudoni.

Jack Rudoni's importance to Huddersfield

The 23-year-old is the latest name to sign for Mark Robins’ side, having stood out in an otherwise disappointing Huddersfield team in the last couple of campaigns.

Since arriving from AFC Wimbledon in 2022, he has made 81 league appearances, contributing seven goals and eight assists (stats from Fbref).

Coventry will be hoping that his arrival will give the team the boost it needs to compete for promotion to the Premier League next season.

Fee a risk but Coventry might benefit still

Here we ask our FLW writers their verdict on whether the £6 million fee paid to sign Rudoni was fair value, or if they’ve potentially overpaid for the midfielder…

Declan Harte

Coventry have shown a willingness to spend fees like this on players if they think it will really improve the first team squad.

Given Huddersfield have been relegated, it is a pretty good fee for a League One side to receive, and this is more in line with what might’ve been expected if they’d stayed up.

But Rudoni is only 23 and has shown that he is a Championship calibre player, so has earned the move to a team like the Sky Blues.

Robins’ side has needed some strengthening in midfield, especially with Callum O’Hare set to leave, as well as the speculation over Ben Sheaf’s future.

Liam Kelly’s influence is also waning, so it is good to see Coventry make a start on addressing these concerns.

Rudoni will bring a bit more defensive solidity from midfield than O’Hare, but that will be balanced out by the 23-year-old not being quite as strong offensively.

Although there is the potential for him to still improve at this age, as well as by taking the step-up into a stronger squad.

Getting the chance to work with the likes of Ellis Simms and Haji Wright could see him start to contribute more in terms of goals and assists, given the jump up in quality of teammates at the CBS Arena.

While the £6 million fee may seem a touch steep at the moment, if they end up paying the full £10 million then it is likely that the overall deal was more than worth it, with add-ons surely based on performance and promotion-related scenarios being met.

Alfie Burns

Maybe, beyond Sorba Thomas and Michal Helik, Rudoni is the player at Huddersfield Town you most expected to see make the move back into the Championship.

Over the last two seasons, the midfielder has been one of the Terriers' standout players and his effort has never been lacking from central midfield.

At the moment, £6m (potentially rising to eight-figures) feels steep given its 15 goal involvements across two campaigns, yet you are buying Rudoni's potential and Coventry are probably calculating that Mark Robins can really help him kick-on.

Firstly, Coventry need to help him establish a role in the side, whether that's as a No.8 or a No.10 - he's got the ability to do both, but Robins needs to commit to one and allow Rudoni to thrive. He's done well at Huddersfield, but the coaching upheaval at the club has meant he maybe hasn't kicked on as much as he could've done.

I'd expect that to change in a much more structured set-up at Coventry with one of the best managers in the division. In a few years' time, it wouldn't be at all surprising if we were talking about this fee as being a good deal for the Sky Blues and, potentially, even a bargain.