“Far too soon” – Coventry City caution issued amid Brighton & Newcastle transfer interest
This post is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which includes personal thoughts from our FLW Fan Pundits discussing the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Coventry City has had a difficult season, so the Sky Blues must be terrified of the next January transfer window because it will be another opportunity for other teams to try to sign their best players.
Seeing another great leave in January would be devastating for City supporters, who have already witnessed the departure of Mark Robins this season and his replacement by Frank Lampard.
However, Coventry’s finest players are always likely to go on to greater and better things ultimately due to their place in the football food chain, as they discovered lately with Viktor Gyokeres, Gus Hamer, and Callum O’Hare.
They’ll be hoping they don’t experience the same depressing feeling they did in January when Newcastle United reportedly showed interest in Norman Bassette. Additionally, FLW recently disclosed that Brighton & Hove Albion is also keeping an eye on the Belgium international.
Norman Bassette rated as Coventry City’s hottest young prospect
We asked our FLW Coventry fan pundit Ryan Murphy, who has received a lot of praise at the CBS Arena since his arrival in the summer, who the most exciting player at his team is, and his response was not surprise.
“Norman Bassette – there’s a lot of excitement around him and Frank Lampard seems to trust him a lot at the moment considering, at the moment, he’s keeping out the likes of Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante, who are two well-established Championship goalscorers,” Ryan stated to Football League World.
“He has only scored one goal, but I don’t believe he is under too much pressure right now to score more; instead, it’s more about what he does for the club.
“He runs in behind and causes panic for the opposition by simply being a busy live wire.”
Ryan, however, feels that Bassette would be better off staying in the Midlands even though the Premier League is interested in hiring him.
“There’s now rumours that Newcastle and Brighton are keeping tabs on him, so he’s the most exciting young talent at the club,” Ryan stated.
“I believe he will learn a lot under Lampard and by getting as much game experience as possible here, but it’s much too soon for him to be moving on.
“He can only get better and improve day-by-day, so he’s definitely one to look out for and I think he could go to the top in a few years.”
Keeping hold of Norman Bassette will be tricky for Coventry City
The football community will be watching the man entrusted with filling the void left by the Swede, given the success Viktor Gyokeres has had since departing Coventry.
The two are already beginning to be compared, and Coventry will find it more and more difficult to hold onto Bassette in the long run due to the publicity around him.
| Norman Bassette’s 2024/25 Coventry City Championship Stats (As Per Fotmob) | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 12 |
| Minutes played | 573 |
| Goals | 1 |
| xG | 3.17 |
| Shots | 12 |
| Shots on target | 5 |
| Assists | 0 |
| Stats Correct As Of December 19, 2024 | |
A top-tier team will probably approach him in the hopes of experiencing a similar success to Gyokeres’ if he can improve his goal-scoring abilities.
But for now, Coventry can enjoy Bassette while they have him and rest easy knowing that they will probably make a good profit on the Belgian winger eventually.
