Mark Robins laughed to the Coventry City bank - Dan Ashworth handed over £1m transfer gold | OneFootball

Viktor Gyokeres first joined the Sky Blues on loan for the second half of the 20/21 season

Albeit it wasn't long after a play-off final defeat, Mark Robins must’ve laughed all the way to the bank at Coventry City some three years ago following a spectacular return on investment.

Coventry are currently in the pursuit of promotion to the Premier League under Frank Lampard following multiple finishes in and around the top-six, and many argue that their success has been positively spearheaded by shrewd and savvy recruitment - picking up talents on cut-price fees before flipping them for considerable profit.

Brighton’s then-technical director, Dan Ashworth gifted what may just go down as Coventry's single finest piece of transfer gold in a generation.

The Sky Blues' original decision to gamble on is arguably the best transfer decision made by a Championship club in recent years - especially when you consider they earned a nice windfall after a notable transfer saga last summer.

Coventry City's £1m Viktor Gyokeres gamble from Brighton & Hove Albion

It goes without saying that when Coventry first took Viktor Gyokeres in on loan from Brighton, there was little sign they were about to land a striker who would end up playing for Arsenal after earning the interest of just about every continental giant

He had struggled to make an impact at Swansea City in the first-half of the 20/21 season, scoring zero goals in 11 Championship appearances before being recalled to the Amex and given to Coventry for the rest of it.

A modest three goals in his initial loan spell with the Sky Blues hardly screamed future superstar, but Robins revealed he'd seen enough from Gyokeres' "good power, pace and movement" to push for a reported £1 million permanent move in the summer of 2021.

As a permanent fixture in Robins' side, the then-23-year-old developed from a very raw forward into arguably the Championship’s most feared striker at the time - hitting 40 goals across two seasons in all competitions and getting to a play-off final.

You could make the fair assumption that Gyokeres would have never been sold if Coventry beat Luton Town at Wembley, but given how things have played out on and off the pitch since then - it perhaps doesn’t matter too much.

Sporting Lisbon obviously arrived that summer with an eight‑figure bid which was reported to be worth around £20m. As per Capology estimates, the Swedish international was apparently earning below £3.5k-a-week across his whole time at Coventry.

Coventry City flipped the Brighton & Hove Albion script with Viktor Gyokeres

Coventry also inserted a sell-on clause into the £20m Sporting deal, giving them a sizeable percentage of any future profit the Portuguese club made on Gyokeres.

With Arsenal eventually paying £55m land the striker, Coventry were apparently in line to receive the aforementioned windfall - which was around £5.5m - even after they sold off a slice of their percentage back to Sporting.

Yes, the Sky Blues didn't make an extortionate amount from the sell-on clause, but add it to what they sold him for and shows the shrewdness of the original Brighton deal.

As for Brighton - and Ashworth - the technical director was a key part in how the Seagulls are known for now in terms of recruitment, which is buying players low and selling high. The Premier League side had signed Gyokeres from his native Brommapojkarna in 2017, and after several unspectacular loans, decided to simply move him on.

This is the sort of call they usually get right though, and there are probably a few Seagulls fans in East Sussex thinking 'what if?.'

Take Chelsea's Moises Caicedo, for example. The Ecuadorian midfielder was originally signed by Brighton for £4m and then sold to the Blues for £115m, as per The Athletic.

It's worth highlighting the pretty clear fact that Gyokeres' form at Coventry was not just the product of Robins’ system or the Championship, because of his subsequent 97 goals across 102 games in Portugal.