Coventry City Terminate Aiyegbeni’s Contract

Coventry City have terminated former Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s contract. The former Portsmouth and Everton player had joined the Sky Blues on a deal until the end of the season after he was released by Turkish side Kayserispor.

Aiyegbeni played threERames for the team failing to find the back of the net. He suffered a hamstring injury in the 3-1 defeat to Swindon on 25 February.

Coventry are bottom of League One, 13 points adrift safety with six games left to play

Aiyegbeni’s commitment had been questioned after a video emerged of him looking on as play went on around him. He was slammed for his lack of effort.

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Coventry City transfer news from CoventryLive as Mark Robins explains the current state of play regarding new signings and the markets the club are potentially tapping into this summer

Coventry City have spread their recruitment net far and wide this summer with one leftfield signing already made in Japan international Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and the hint of more to come.

The relaxation of rules for overseas players wanting to work in the UK means the European market and beyond has opened up again and the Sky Blues appear keen to exploit the situation by tapping into foreign territories for talent.

Mark Robins remains eight to ten players short of where he wants to be in the current recruitment drive as he looks to complete a major rebuild of his Championship squad, looking to draft in quality players who are capable of taking the team to the next level with another sustained push for the play-offs and promotion.

With just over a week to go before the big kick-off at Leicester City, the club are clearly far from ready and may take time to get going as new players bed in and fresh faces are added over the coming weeks until the transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday, September 1.

Asked for an update on new signings following Tuesday night’s 5-1 pre-season win at MK Dons, Robins said: “There will be some more in-comings and we are working really hard on that. That will be stepped up this week if we can but the fact is they are starting to drip in and we are happy with the quality that we’re bringing in.”

CoventryLive understands that SC Heerenveen wing-back and Dutch Under-21 international Milan van Ewijk is a target for the Sky Blues but that Blackburn Rovers’ centre-forward Sam Gallagher is not currently being pursued by the club, contrary to weekend reports.

Dutch striker Dylan Vente of Roda JC, meanwhile, has not been the subject of any interest, again, contrary to reports.

Hinting that there might be a few more surprises along the way with players from further afield that fans will not have heard of, Robins told CoventryLive: “I have been on Zoom more times than I care to mention but that has been an instrument that has been really good because it means you don’t have to be flying all over the world to do things.

“Plus we have the GB points system that has opened up for us so we can get up to four players who don’t qualify for that, plus the ones with GB points, so that opens the market up a little bit more.”

Managers in the top two divisions can now sign up to four foreign players who would not have previously automatically qualified for a visa – as long as 35 per cent of playing time has been given to players who are eligible for England. Transfers of this nature have fallen dramatically since Brexit closed the market to targets from the European Union, with players instead needing to meet certain criteria depending on international experience and league standard.

Tatsu Sakamoto is the club’s first Japanese player who already has the makings of a being a huge hit with the supporters based on his early pre-season showings. But asked how his move came about, Robins revealed that he was spotted by accident plying his trade in Belgium, saying: “Through the work that the recruitment lads are doing. We were looking at players and there were other players we were looking at and then, all of a sudden, he jumped out. They passed it onto me to have a look at and then you get a feel for them. But they (Dean Austin and his team) do the groundwork.

“You can’t always go and see them in person but every single one of them are brilliant lads. There are others that I have spoken to and I am hopeful I can get them over the line – brilliant people and good, talented players who are hungry to come in and do well. That’s the key for me, hungry people who want to help take this forward and have the ability to transform things for us.”