'Please come to Coventry City' - Frank Lampard urged to seal 'cracking' Brentford transfer | OneFootball

FLW’s Coventry City fan pundit has discussed whether he would welcome Frank Onyeka to the CBS Arena on loan during the January transfer window.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Coventry City will be hopeful of putting a sticky patch of form behind them as they return to Championship action.

The Sky Blues still sit at the summit of the second-tier standings under Frank Lampard with 20 games left to play, but will be concerned about a winless run of four games in all competitions.

It started with a 2-0 home defeat at Ipswich Town at the end of December, while they failed to beat Charlton Athletic and have since suffered defeats at the hands of Birmingham City, and most recently, Stoke City in the FA Cup.

Coventry return to the second-tier with a bang, welcoming bitter rivals Leicester City to the CBS Arena, and that could well be the perfect fixture to get their form back on the right track.

Coventry still sit eight points clear of third-placed Ipswich Town in the race for automatic promotion to the top-flight, but reinforcements during the remainder of the January transfer window could be pivotal to the club addressing their current slide.

During the opening month of 2026, Coventry have already been active in the market, bringing wingers Romain Esse and Min-hyeok Yang to the club on loan deals for the remainder of the campaign from Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur respectively.

And now, Coventry have been touted to bolster their midfield department, with the Sky Blues and Birmingham City linked with a loan move for Brentford’s Frank Onyeka, as per a report by the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, according to Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas, Spanish top-flight outfit Valencia have made an approach to sign Onyeka, as they aim to ease their relegation fears in La Liga.

It will be intriguing to see who comes out on top for the signing of Onyeka, who has played 75 times in the Premier League and had plenty of playing time for Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations, helping his nation reach the semi-final of the competition.

With this in mind, FLW’s Coventry City fan pundit has issued his thoughts over whether he would welcome the midfielder to the CBS Arena for the remainder of the season.

Coventry City urged to complete Frank Onyeka deal to add fresh legs into midfield department

Speaking to Football League World, Coventry City fan pundit Chris Deez believes Frank Onyeka would be a “fantastic addition”, with the club desperately needing midfield reinforcements after a relentless winter period.

Meanwhile, Chris is hopeful that the Sky Blues can beat Birmingham City to a deal for the Nigerian international, believing the likelihood of Premier League football next season and being situated at the top of the Championship table can be enough to convince him to join.

Chris told FLW: “Frank Onyeka, please mate, please come to Coventry City and be my second favourite Frank at the club.

“We so desperately need some cover in midfield. A lot has been made about how much we needed cover on the wings, and we’ve brought in Esse (from Crystal Palace) and Yang from Spurs, incredible signings and over the moon with them, but Matt Grimes needs a rest, he’s played every second of every game so far.

“He’s an incredible player, the engine of the team, the heartbeat of the team, pretty much everything goes through him, and he controls everything, but he needs a rest.

“Onyeka has had quite a lot of good Premier League experience with Brentford. Not really featured this season, but he’s featured in AFCON with Nigeria, and he’s played most minutes in most games for them. They’ve just been eliminated in the semi-finals.

“He spent last season on loan at Augsburg and played pretty much every game in the German league, so obviously got a lot of good experience under him in the top leagues.

“We should absolutely be looking to make this happen. He wasn’t a player that had been mentioned before, and he wasn’t on my radar before. I’d known of him obviously, but I think he’d be a cracking addition.

“Obviously, Birmingham City are interested now, because why wouldn’t they be interested in a player that we are? Hopefully our position in the table, playing for Lampard and getting back to the Premier League can be major factors in bringing him to Coventry, and all round, I think this would be a fantastic addition.”

Frank Onyeka’s AFCON success proves he is still an exciting signing despite Brentford lull

While Frank Onyeka has only made nine appearances for Brentford this season, he was one of several impressive figures as Nigeria progressed all the way to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations, before suffering an agonising penalty-shootout defeat to Morocco.

Onyeka started four of the Super Eagles’ outings, and he will return after this weekend’s latest league fixtures, with Nigeria having to face Egypt in a third place play-off.

With Championship games coming thick and fast, the Sky Blues squad have felt the full effects of this and the pressure of staying consistent at the top of the league, meaning some players need a reset to get themselves going again for the remainder of the campaign.

From a league perspective, Onyeka has played in some of the best leagues in Europe, so he has the potential to arrive into the Championship and be a fundamental player to sustaining Coventry’s promotion hopes.

Valencia entering the race for Onyeka will be a concern though. Despite being threatened with relegation, Valencia are a massive club in Spain due to their recent stature in both league and European football, while another opportunity is presenting itself for Onyeka to play against some of the biggest clubs and players in world football.

If Coventry can lure Onyeka to the CBS Arena, it would be a massive statement of intent, and it should be an arrival that really excites the Sky Blues faithful given his previous pedigree and ability to still thrive at the top end of the game.