It is no secret that Carl Rushworth is Coventry City’s top target this summer.
Rushworth played a key role in the Sky Blues’ elevation to the Premier League and earned the Championship’s Golden Glove for 17 clean sheets.
The 24-year-old finished runner-up for Player of the Year to Middlesbrough midfielder Hayden Hackney, and Coventry are eager to get him back to the CBS Arena on a long-term basis.
Brighton, Rushworth’s parent club, has the upper hand after refusing to include an option in the deal with Coventry last summer.
“We did try to buy him, we did acknowledge his talent, and he had a difficult period in which he was injured, pulled back, and unable to play for a year,” Coventry owner Doug King recently stated on the Football Boardroom Podcast.
“I didn’t have a choice. (Brighton owner) Tony (Bloom) and I talked about the position, but for me, signing a goalkeeper was more important than battling for an option. “
Coventry will need a backup plan if Brighton’s conditions for Rushworth are unreasonable, and the club has been linked with Sunderland custodian Anthony Patterson.
Patterson was a member of the Millwall team that had their promotion dreams destroyed by Hull City on Monday night, following a falling out at Sunderland due to Robin Roefs’ form.
He might find himself back in the Championship next season, with the Sunderland Echo reporting that Southampton, Hull, West Brom, and Derby County are interested in Patterson, but Coventry is being promoted as a Premier League target.
It is believed that Patterson would be available for between £8-10 million this summer, with Coventry named among the clubs ‘monitoring the situation’.
Patterson was instrumental in Sunderland’s promotion through the play-offs last year, and the 25-year-old maintained seven clean sheets in 16 games on loan at Millwall.
