Coventry City 'problem' raised over Brandon Thomas-Asante ahead of Premier League | OneFootball

Brandon Thomas-Asante's campaign for the champions has been extremely mixed

With Coventry City already crowned champions of the Championship, the hard work starts now for the Sky Blues with regards to their preparations for the upcoming Premier League season.

After 25 years away from the top-flight, during which City have fallen down to League Two and ground shared with both Northampton Town and Birmingham City, Frank Lampard and his side have written themselves into the history books in this part of the West Midlands with a season not many could have imagined, even after their impressive start.

Despite a minor downturn in results and performance levels at the start of 2026 which, for a week, let Middlesbrough claim top spot at their expense, the Sky Blues have, unarguably, shown a consistency very rarely seen at this level in comparison to their promotion rivals.

As a result, they secured automatic promotion with three matches to spare, and, in a style fitting of how they have played in an attacking sense, clinched the Championship trophy with a 5-1 home rout over already-safe Portsmouth in CV6.

After also winning the accolade of Manager of the Season at the EFL Awards, the aforementioned Lampard sent out a message to owner, Doug King, that planning for next season was to commence imminently, and with that, some tricky decisions will need to be made.

Ultimately, two of the common traits a newly-promoted side have in the Premier League is that they are extremely tough to beat, and have more than one reliable source of goals.

City have certainly showcased both in the Championship, but top-level experience will no doubt be targeted across all areas, which could potentially see Brandon Thomas-Asante's nose placed out of joint, and that is a view shared by Football League World's Coventry fan pundit, Chris Deez.

Brandon Thomas-Asante 'concern' issue raised ahead of Coventry City's Premier League return

The Ghanaian international has endured mixed spells in the near-two-year stint in which he has been a part of the Sky Blues ranks, having signed from divisional rivals, West Bromwich Albion, for a reported £2.25m in Mark Robins' final transfer window with Coventry before he was eventually replaced by Lampard.

It seemed as though the 27-year-old would have a major part to play this season after he hit the 10-goal mark on November 4th in a 3-1 win over Sheffield United, before suffering a frustrating hamstring knock.

However, Thomas-Asante's second half of the campaign has been frustrating on an individual level, having been handed a retrospective ban for elbowing Norwich City's Pelle Mattsson in the 2-1 defeat at Carrow Road on January 26th, whilst starting less than five games since then behind Haji Wright and Ellis Simms.

Deez told FLW that he can't see the Milton Keynes-born man making the step-up to the top-flight with City, despite his key early-season contributions.

"Don't get me wrong, I like Brandon Thomas-Asante, and he's been a very good player for us," he said. "He's been very important. His early-season form and the goals he scored were vital to everything we've achieved this season and I don't know where we'd be without them.

"Unfortunately, then, he had a fairly long-term injury, came back from that and immediately got a retrospective three-match ban for his stupid behaviour against Norwich.

"It happened during a time when we were struggling and, I'll say it, nearly bottled the league," Deez added. "Players doing stupid things like that isn't helpful. It lets the rest of the team down. He let us down as fans.

"He's obviously a good player. He's had struggles. Since everyone else got back to full fitness and we've been firing on all cylinders, he's not really been playing in his favoured position.

"He keeps getting pushed out to the wing, but he, naturally, likes to float more centrally and that doesn't really work. I can only see that being a problem in the Premier League.

"I don't see him lasting five minutes in the Premier League, to be honest. I think the Championship is probably his level," he claimed.

"It would be a shame, as you want to have that bit of sentiment and give the chances to the players who helped us get there, but I don't think he's cut out for the Premier League.

"For me, it's that whole 'not being able to stick to the job he's been given' and floating in. He's not quick enough to play on the wing or consistent enough in front of goal.

"He has scored in the past couple of months, but nowhere near as much as the start of the season," our fan pundit explained.

"It's worrying when a player gets an injury, is out for 2 months and they become a shadow of themselves.

"I think he's a top-end Championship player and is likely to move on in the summer to, probably, the likes of Norwich, go back to West Brom or Stoke, as I can see Mark Robins coming in for a couple of our players that he brought in."

Brandon Thomas-Asante has become a victim of Coventry City's success

Naturally, many of City's pre-existing squad will feel they have earned the right to play in the Premier League, even on a handful of occasions, having done the hard yards over time.

Thomas-Asante certainly falls into said bracket too, having made the step-up from League Two to the Championship initially when West Brom signed him from Salford City in August 2022.

However, there has to be a balancing act between sentiment and how to re-establish the club's position in the top-flight after so many years, meaning the man whose early-season contributions got the Sky Blues off to a flyer may have already fallen victim of their success.