Coventry City warned against transfer repeat for Oxford United player who 'doesn't scream Premier League' | OneFootball

FLW's Sky Blues fan pundit doesn't think that his club should be looking to bring Tyler Goodrham to the club

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...

Despite being linked with several high-end Championship clubs over the summer, Oxford United winger Tyler Goodrham hasn't shown much of the quality so far this season that caused those rumours to surface.

Football League World exclusively reported in May that the 22-year-old, who graduated from the Yellows' youth academy in 2019 and has since made over 100 appearances for the club, was on the radar of Southampton, Middlesbrough and Coventry City.

Goodrham played all but five games in Oxford's first Championship campaign since the 1998/99 season last year, but so far this term, he started the first four games of the season, was an unused substitute in the subsequent six, and hasn't appeared in the matchday squad in the last five.

The wideman has seemingly lost his way in the squad under Gary Rowett, and with the January transfer window a couple of months away, if Goodrham's lack of minutes continues, he may find himself departing the Kassam Stadium for pastures new.

But will he still command the interest of those at the top end of the table? FLW's Coventry fan pundit, Chris Deez, doesn't think so, believing that Frank Lampard will be a little more ambitious in his January dealings, given the club's Premier League ambitions.

Coventry City fan pundit dismisses Tyler Goodrham links, despite a need for squad depth in January

After a solid first Championship campaign, where Goodrham contributed three goals and six assists for Oxford, the then-21-year-old was being linked with those who had expectations of challenging near the top of the second tier, but Deez didn't really understand the hype.

"To be completely honest, I don't know why we were looking at Goodrham in the summer," Deez said. "He's a fairly decent player, but he's nothing special.

"He's not set the world alight at Oxford, and he's not even featured on their bench for the last five games. He's not injured, for what I can tell, so is it a quality issue? An attitude issue?

"Whatever it is, I can only imagine that we were looking at him because he's 22, young, would have only cost about £2-£3 million, and Lampard likes to work with young English players."

Despite Lampard's ability to get the best out of young talents, and despite Goodrham having over 100 games of senior football in the EFL under his belt, the Coventry fan pundit doesn't believe that he'd be good enough to play for the Sky Blues.

19 goals and 14 assists in 146 games for the club doesn't jump out for Deez, and even though he acknowledges that Coventry will need some reinforcements in January to help bulk out the squad, he feels that the Sky Blues will need to aim for better.

"He's played three full league seasons at Oxford, and scored and assisted four goals, 12 goals and nine goals, respectively. I don't think that's anything special, and whilst I don't think it is, they are goals and assists that Oxford might need now, so why isn't he getting a look in there?" he questioned.

"He'd be a good player to have as a backup and a good option to have off the bench. Grimes and Torp will get tired eventually, especially with Torp, as he picks up injuries fairly often.

"But I wouldn't be surprised if we missed out on him in January, because I'm sure that for a similar fee, or maybe a little more, we could get someone arguably a lot better.

"At the end of the day, come January, if we're still top, or at least in the top three, we're going to be looking at top quality reinforcements and squad depth, and Goodrham doesn't exactly scream Premier League player for me, or a player for a club with Premier League ambitions."

Coventry City may need to aim higher than Oxford United's Tyler Goodrham this January

For Coventry, the start of the season couldn't have gone much better, with Frank Lampard's side currently sitting atop the Championship with a five-point buffer between their closest rivals, Middlesbrough, and a seven-point difference between themselves and third.

While there's no doubting Goodrham's potential, it may be at the point now where the Sky Blues need to aim higher and add quality to the squad with one eye on the Premier League.

If the 22-year-old did find his way to the West Midlands side in January, would he be able to hack a potential step-up to the top flight so soon?

Lampard will know not to get carried away, but he'll also know that for Coventry to maintain this form in the second half of the season, adding Premier League-level players in January would not only go a long way to bringing top-flight football back to the CBS Arena for the first time since the 2000/01 campaign, but also help them stay there if it happens.

And whilst Goodrham would be a useful bench option in the Championship, he may get lost in the pack in the top flight if Coventry were to achieve promotion in May.