“North of £10 million”: Ben Sheaf’s Coventry City future if Sky Blues are not promoted

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City have garnered plenty of praise over the past few days following their jaw-dropping 3-2 win over Wolves at Molineux – but there is one player who has flown under the radar in their recent revival this season.

The Sky Blues looked to have blown a 1-0 lead at Molineux after plenty of gilt-edged chances to double their lead; but Ellis Simms’ equaliser was quickly followed up by Haji Wright’s deft finish to send them to Wembley for a superb showdown against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final.

It’s been a superb season from them after what was a slow start to the Championship campaign, and they still harbour huge hopes of getting to the play-offs as they sit just four points behind Norwich City with a game in hand.

But whilst stars like Wright, Simms, Callum O’Hare and Liam Kitching will take all the plaudits, there is one player who is equally as vital but doesn’t get the plaudits in Ben Sheaf.

Ben Sheaf is one of Coventry City’s most underrated stars

Sheaf joined the Sky Blues back in 2020 on loan from Arsenal, and impressed enough to land a permanent deal at the CBS Arena following a 30-game season in the Championship.

Since then, he’s been a huge part of Mark Robins’ plans and was a mainstay in the side last season as Coventry fell at the last hurdle in a play-off penalty shootout loss to Luton Town in the play-off final.

This season, Sheaf seems to have taken things up a further notch when he’s been fit.

23 appearances in the Championship have seen him captain the club ten times, and his first start in six weeks after injury against Wolves – where he completed the full 90 minutes – is testament to how important he is to Robins.

Sheaf has two years left on his contract, and so there may well be clubs interested – and FLW’s writers take a look at whether he could move on to pastures new if the Sky Blues fail to win promotion.

Will Lancaster
Whilst Sheaf has been an important player for Coventry in the past few years, there is a lot to be said about stability at any given club – never mind one that is still on an upward arc like they are.

Mark Robins has made a huge knack of getting the best out of players in his time in the west Midlands.

The likes of Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer went from a relatively lesser profile in the Championship to being two of the division’s main stars, and Callum O’Hare, Milan van Ewijk and others are beginning to show that they are on the same path.

Sheaf has evident talent having come up through Arsenal’s Hale End academy, and there is every chance that he would shine in the Premier League should he earn a move away from the Sky Blues if they fail to win promotion.

But as we’ve seen this season with others midfielders who dominated in the Championship last season such as Josh Brownhill and Sander Berge at Burnley – with the latter plying his trade at fellow promotion side Sheffield United last season – alongside various others, it isn’t as easy as first seems.

Sheaf has the luxury of being captain at Coventry when he’s on the field given club captain Liam Kelly’s lack of minutes and that is something he certainly should not take for granted, especially at a vital stage in his career where a lack of minutes elsewhere could seriously diminish his stock.

Ben Wignall

The likes of Callum O’Hare and Haji Wright take the headlines normally for Coventry, but Sheaf just quietly gets along with his business at the base of midfield – aside from his match-winning brace against Sheffield Wednesday back in January that showed his improved attacking nous.

The stats speak for themselves regarding Sheaf’s performances in the last 12 months – ranking against players in 14 other selected top leagues, the 26-year-old ranks highly for tackles, interceptions, progressive passes and successful take-ons per match for players in his position, as showed by FBRef and their percentiles (99 being the top/best).

It will certainly not be going unnoticed by the data analysts that work for bigger clubs, but it’s rare you see Premier League clubs spend massive on defensive midfielders – especially ones from the Championship.

However, Sheaf’s stats are certainly impressive and it wouldn’t be a shock to see some top flight clubs interested in the summer – it’s surely going to take north of £10 million for the Sky Blues to sell Sheaf though.

Coventry can certainly hold their ground in the transfer market and get the best possible deals for players, as they showed last summer with Gyokeres and Hamer, but Sheaf may be harder to replace – I can see Mark Robins being able to keep hold of the midfielder though.