Coventry City warned against sealing 'strange' Sunderland AFC transfer - Doug King told to 'aim higher' | OneFootball

Coventry City have been urged to sign a better goalkeeper than Sunderland's Anthony Patterson, who is currently on loan with Millwall

Coventry City will soon be tasked with building a squad that has a fighting chance of obtaining Premier League survival next season.

The Sky Blues were beaten 2-1 by Southampton in their last Championship outing, but they remain top of the league, seven points clear of second-place Middlesbrough.

Crucially, Frank Lampard's men are nine points above third-place Ipswich Town with just eight games left to play, meaning they are set to clinch automatic promotion barring an unlikely collapse in form.

Coventry are likely to beat Boro to the Championship title, and are more than capable of defeating Swansea City in their next second-tier fixture this Saturday.

Coventry City urged to sign a better goalkeeper than Anthony Patterson despite interest in Sunderland promotion hero

Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth has been one of the Sky Blues' star players this season, successfully maintaining 13 clean sheets in 38 Championship appearances so far.

However, Lampard may have to look elsewhere for a shot-stopper who can serve his side in the Premier League next term, as Rushworth is currently on loan at the CBS Arena from Brighton.

Journalist Alan Nixon has revealed via Patreon that Coventry are interested in Sunderland's Anthony Patterson, who won promotion from the Championship with the Black Cats last term.

The 25-year-old is currently on loan with Millwall, who could clinch promotion to the Premier League alongside the Sky Blues, either automatically or via the play-offs.

Amid the news that Lampard's men are targeting a summer move for the man on loan with the Lions, Football League World asked our Coventry fan pundit, Chris Deez, if Patterson was top-flight quality in his view.

Deez said: "I like Patterson, don't get me wrong. He's a very good keeper. We saw that last season, when Sunderland got promoted and beat us in the play-offs.

"But, there's a reason that he's out on loan at Millwall and isn't playing for Sunderland now they're in the Premier League. If they don't view him as Premier League standard, then why would we be going in for him when we're already likely to struggle in our first season in the Premier League?

"It's a strange one. Signing Patterson, good as he is, it would confirm what my fears have been in recent weeks, that we're going to try and build, essentially, a Championship super team in the hope that, if we do go down, we'll have a good chance of coming straight back up because we'll have signed all those players who are too good for the Championship, but not good enough for the Premier League.

"The likes of Adam Armstrong, goalkeepers like Patterson, (Jaden) Philogene, players we've already signed, like (Luke) Woolfenden. If we're not able to get Rushworth, if another team comes in for him, then I would hope that we could at least sign a Premier League-experienced goalkeeper.

"At the moment, I don't know who that is. There can't be too many of them around and available, or willing to come to Coventry, or willing to take a cut in wages.

"It's either that, or we end up signing some random goalkeeper from a 16th-place team in the French league. It's going to be one or the other. We're going to either be signing somebody who's a little bit over the hill, or somebody who's a complete non-entity, a complete unknown, could work out incredibly well.

"He could adapt and be incredible, but I don't know. We're in a really tricky position, because we don't know how much money we're going to have to spend, and we don't know how much our wage cap is going to increase to.

"It's going to have to increase to at least, minimum £40k-£50k, you would imagine, from the £25k-£30k that it's at now. There is, surely, a goalkeeper who we could sign on £40k-£50k a week that's better than Patterson.

"No offence to him. I don't think he's the kind of calibre that we would need, and I don't say that with any sort of ego or big head or arrogance, because I don't think even with Premier League promotion we would class as a big team by any stretch of the imagination.

"We just need to be aiming higher. I really, really don't want to be a yo-yo team. I don't want to end up being a Norwich, a Southampton, a West Brom."

Coventry City would be best served if Brighton are willing to sanction a fresh Carl Rushworth deal

Deez is right to allude to the fact that if Brighton are not willing to let Rushworth complete another move to Coventry this summer, either on loan or permanently, Lampard's men will have to think outside the box when it comes to recruiting a new goalkeeper.

Patterson has proven himself as a gifted shot-stopper at Championship level, and could win another promotion from the second tier with Millwall, but Sunderland's judgement that he is not top-flight quality should be trusted.

The Black Cats enjoyed a highly successful transfer window last summer, which has enabled them to eye a top-half finish in the Premier League rather than just securing survival.

If Brighton let Rushworth continue his Coventry stint, it would be a great outcome for Lampard's side, as the Sky Blues backline already know the talented 24-year-old well.