DEFENDER ON CITY RADAR
COVENTRY City are poised to make their fourth signing of the summer today as manager Andy Thorn continues to strengthen his squad.
The player is understood to be a powerful centre-half from overseas who has impressed on trial this week and could be one of up to six new faces on show when the Sky Blues kick-off their pre-season campaign at Hinckley United tomorrow.
New signings John Fleck, Stephen Elliott and Kevin Kilbane are set to feature in the run-out at the Greene King Stadium along with midfielder Steve Jennings, who Thorn has been running the rule over along with two foreign players.
While the club are keen to keep their names under wraps at this stage to avoid the risk of others coming in to pinch them from under their noses, the Telegraph understands that they are from Europe.
“We are very, very close with one player and there has been significant interest in him from other clubs,” said the club’s development director Steve Waggott, who is hopeful that at least one deal can be tied up within the next 24 hours.
“We are working extremely hard with Andy to bolster the squad and we hope to have this deal done ahead of the friendly at Hinckley on Saturday.
“It’s been a very busy few weeks because
there is a lot of work to be done in rebuilding for next season but we are all very pleased with where we are at this stage.
“The next few weeks are going to be equally as busy as we try to put a squad together that can challenge in League One next season.“
Meanwhile, 27-year-old holding midfielder Jennings, who is available on a free transfer after parting company with Motherwell, has caught Thorn's eye this week.
“He's done well,“ said the City boss.
“He was a little behind on fitness but he's working hard and playing catch-up. We like what we've seen so far and we're looking forward to seeing him in a game.
“He'll play at Hinckley tomorrow. i'm taking two teams and i'll mix them up, so it won't be a first team and a reserve team. it will be a mixture of senior players and the development squad boys.
“The new signings will play as well as a few triallists.“
City warmed up for Saturday's opening pre-season friendly with an 11-a-side training match at ryton on Tuesday.
“They played 40 minutes each way and the tempo was really high, so i'm really pleased with how their fitness is coming on,“ revealed Thorn.
“And the really pleasing thing is that the following day everyone came in and there were no reports of strains or pulls.
“it has been a really tough two weeks for the lads and we'll complete the fortnight with a good workout at Hinckley. And once that's over we'll be concentrating on more ball work.
“We obviously travel up to Scotland on Monday when we'll have the three games up there to get plenty of pitch time into the players.“
COVENTRY City are poised to make their fourth signing of the summer today as manager Andy Thorn continues to strengthen his squad.
The player is understood to be a powerful centre-half from overseas who has impressed on trial this week and could be one of up to six new faces on show when the Sky Blues kick-off their pre-season campaign at Hinckley United tomorrow.
New signings John Fleck, Stephen Elliott and Kevin Kilbane are set to feature in the run-out at the Greene King Stadium along with midfielder Steve Jennings, who Thorn has been running the rule over along with two foreign players.
While the club are keen to keep their names under wraps at this stage to avoid the risk of others coming in to pinch them from under their noses, the Telegraph understands that they are from Europe.
“We are very, very close with one player and there has been significant interest in him from other clubs,” said the club’s development director Steve Waggott, who is hopeful that at least one deal can be tied up within the next 24 hours.
“We are working extremely hard with Andy to bolster the squad and we hope to have this deal done ahead of the friendly at Hinckley on Saturday.
“It’s been a very busy few weeks because
there is a lot of work to be done in rebuilding for next season but we are all very pleased with where we are at this stage.
“The next few weeks are going to be equally as busy as we try to put a squad together that can challenge in League One next season.“
Meanwhile, 27-year-old holding midfielder Jennings, who is available on a free transfer after parting company with Motherwell, has caught Thorn's eye this week.
“He's done well,“ said the City boss.
“He was a little behind on fitness but he's working hard and playing catch-up. We like what we've seen so far and we're looking forward to seeing him in a game.
“He'll play at Hinckley tomorrow. i'm taking two teams and i'll mix them up, so it won't be a first team and a reserve team. it will be a mixture of senior players and the development squad boys.
“The new signings will play as well as a few triallists.“
City warmed up for Saturday's opening pre-season friendly with an 11-a-side training match at ryton on Tuesday.
“They played 40 minutes each way and the tempo was really high, so i'm really pleased with how their fitness is coming on,“ revealed Thorn.
“And the really pleasing thing is that the following day everyone came in and there were no reports of strains or pulls.
“it has been a really tough two weeks for the lads and we'll complete the fortnight with a good workout at Hinckley. And once that's over we'll be concentrating on more ball work.
“We obviously travel up to Scotland on Monday when we'll have the three games up there to get plenty of pitch time into the players.“
