Jack Rudoni is talk of the tabloids but what next for Frank Lampard’s star pupil at Coventry City
Coventry City comment from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner discusses Jack Rudoni’s future amid links with higher placed clubs
It’s no surprise that Jack Rudoni is already the talk of the tabloids when it comes to summer transfer speculation and Coventry City.
Linked with interest from Newcastle United and newly promoted Leeds United so far, the 23-year-old’s impressive numbers in his first season with the Sky Blues – ten goals and 13 assists – make him the club’s most saleable asset heading into an exciting window for the club.
Frank Lampard has his feet under the table at Ryton and will be determined to add strength to crucial areas of his team in his first major transfer window since his arrival at the CBS Arena last November in a bid to go one better in terms of getting over the promotion line in the 2025/26 campaign – which will be the 46-year-old’s first full season in charge of the Championship club.
He’s had time to assess his largely inherited squad and already handed out new contracts to Ben Wilson, Jake Bidwell and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto while triggering an option in Jamie Allen’s deal to keep him at the club for another 12 months.
He’s made two new signings since taking over from Mark Robins, with Matt Grimes the standout addition to the squad in January when Jamie Paterson also earned himself a short-term deal at his hometown club. The latter, however, was more of a stop-gap signing amid mounting injuries to help get City to the play-offs with his experience and ability.
Now turning his attention to adding real quality and depth over the next eight weeks of the close season, Lampard is not likely to be ready to let his best attacking player leave the club. Indeed, Rudoni – along with Grimes – are players whom the head coach can build his team around rather than look to replace any time soon.
The only caveat that goes with that, as it does with all players, is that if the club receives an offer they can’t refuse – or at least feel duty bound to consider – then he’ll obviously come up for discussion. But with Rudi it feels a bit like Gustavo Hamer’s situation the summer before he moved on, in that the club will be keen to get at least one more season out of him.
If a player is good enough to play in the Premier League then they will, inevitably, eventually find their way there but the club will be hoping that a player of Rudoni’s quality can help City get promoted and then, as would have been the case in Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres’ situations, stayed at the club had they made it to the top flight.
Rudoni clearly has ambitions to play in the Premier League but he also has a smart head on his shoulders and knows how much he’s already improved under his boyhood midfield idol, whom he watched as a fan from the terraces at Stamford Bridge in his Chelsea pomp.
“He was an amazing player and is a great guy who has been helping me ever since he got here, and I think you can see that from the stuff I have produced and the goals and assists I have got,” Rudoni told CoventryLive a couple of months ago. “He’s got me scoring more and it’s a pleasure to work with him, and I just want to better myself.”
Lampard, meanwhile, clearly enjoys coaching the lad, regularly spending extra time on the grass with him after training.
