Crystal Palace can help seal Coventry City promotion to Premier League | OneFootball

The loan arrival of Romain Esse would give any side in the Championship a boost - and it could help Coventry City to the Premier League

Coventry City's uber-impressive start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign has faltered slightly, having won just two of their eight games since the start of December.

As the schedule has become busier, the depth at the CBS Arena has been pushed to its limits, and it's clear that, if Frank Lampard's side is to be as dominant as they were in the first few months of the campaign during the second half of the season, they need some reinforcements.

The 3-2 defeat at Birmingham City on Sunday was the first time Coventry had scored more than once since the 3-1 win over Charlton Athletic to close out November. Before then, the Sky Blues had scored at least twice in 11 of their previous 12.

Therefore, despite leaking a few more goals than usual in the past month, it's clear that Frank Lampard needs to address his frontline first in the ongoing January transfer window before he thinks about defensive reinforcements. If the Sky Blues can return to their dominant selves going forward, they'll limit chances going the other way.

So, the stories linking Crystal Palace winger Romain Esse to the CBS Arena last week will no doubt be ones that Coventry fans will want to see materialise. The exciting 20-year-old could be exactly what Frank Lampard's side needs to secure Premier League promotion.

Crystal Palace's Romain Esse could inject quality into an already stellar Coventry City frontline

John Percy reported on January 2 that Coventry had held talks with Crystal Palace over the loan signing of Esse, who has had a rough time since making the jump to the Premier League a year ago.

The 20-year-old had a breakout year in the first half of the 2024/25 campaign while at Millwall. The then-teenager started 24 of the Lions' first 25 games of the Championship campaign, scoring four times and being a constant threat on the right side at the Den.

His per 90-minute stats last season in the Championship had him averaging over two successful dribbles per game, winning nearly three fouls per game and, on the defensive end, winning over nine duels per game and close to three tackles per game.

It was understandable that Palace, who are well-renowned for bringing in talents from the second tier and nurturing them into superstars, saw Esse as the next Michael Olise or Ebere Eze and spent £12 million to acquire him last January.

Evidently, it hasn't worked out for the 20-year-old thus far at Selhurst Park. He's been the subject of some criticism from manager Oliver Glasner, and has made just 17 senior appearances in his debut year, the majority of which have come from the bench.

Despite this, though, there's no doubting the quality that Esse possesses at Championship level, and with a year under his belt training with the current FA Cup holders, there's an expectation that he'll come in and continue where he left off while at Millwall.

And with a chip on his shoulder to prove that he can be at the level of an Olise or an Eze, he might even be better than what second-tier fans remember from last year.

Coventry City need quality over quantity this January — Romain Esse would be a smart signing

Coventry's squad is one of the smallest in the Championship, but their starting eleven and subs bench are some of the strongest in the division. Therefore, it could be said that all Frank Lampard needs is to bolster his side with some squad players to help back up an impressive core group.

However, for the Sky Blues to continue their charge towards the Premier League, they need their backups to be as good as their starting group, especially now that Ipswich Town and Middlesbrough have cut the gap between themselves and Coventry in the past month.

Esse would ensure that the quality is maintained when injuries hit, like they are currently with Brandon Thomas-Asante, or if form drops from the likes of Ephron Mason-Clark or Tatsuhiro Sakamoto between now and May.

Promotion seemed like an inevitability at the CBS Arena a month or so ago, but now it's looking more like a three-horse race for the top two, especially if Ipswich win their game in hand after their recent postponement at Portsmouth.

Esse, and other signings of a similar ilk, will ensure that Frank Lampard's side maintain that points buffer between themselves and third and eventually wind up in the Premier League for the first time since the 2000/01 campaign.