Mass Coventry City player exodus tipped as Doug King urged to copy Sunderland | OneFootball

FLW's Coventry City fan pundit has given his verdict on which players could leave the club this summer if they are promoted to the Premier League.

It is shaping up to be an exciting end to the season for Coventry City as they close in on promotion to the Premier League.

After a number of failed play-off campaigns, Coventry have spent much of this season in the automatic promotion places, and they sat top of the table for over four months between October and February.

A run of just four wins in 13 games over the winter period saw the chasing pack close the gap on the Sky Blues, and they were knocked off the summit by Middlesbrough, but Frank Lampard's men have rediscovered their form in recent weeks to establish a commanding lead.

With a return to the top flight for the first time in 25 years looking a strong possibility, it could be a busy summer transfer window for Coventry, but owner Doug King has suggested that there will not be wholesale changes to the squad after promotion.

Despite remaining clear of relegation danger for the entire season, King claimed that Sunderland, who beat the Sky Blues in the play-off semi-finals last season, have "lost their identity" after spending £155 million on 14 new signings last summer.

Coventry City summer exits predicted as Doug King told to follow Sunderland example

When asked which players may be deemed surplus to requirements this summer if the club achieve promotion, FLW's Coventry City fan pundit Chris Deez admitted that a number of the current squad may not be good enough for the Premier League.

While Chris believes the likes of Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas, Matt Grimes and Jack Rudoni could make the step up to the top flight, he claimed that Liam Kitching, Luke Woolfenden, Jay Dasilva, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Ephron Mason-Clark and Ellis Simms may all need to be sold.

With a big rebuild needed to get the squad up to the standard required for the Premier League, Chris also urged King to reconsider his transfer stance and follow the example of Sunderland if they are to have any chance of survival.

"I think, sadly, the reality of the situation is that the majority of the squad are not going to be playing for us in the Premier League," Chris told FLW.

"I don't think they're at that level.

"There's a few players who absolutely are.

"Carl Rushworth is obviously, I think Milan van Ewijk is there or thereabouts, there has been interest in Bobby Thomas from Premier League clubs, so I think that says it all.

"I think Matt Grimes could make it in the Premier League, Frank Onyeka is another one, but I really don't know about the rest of them.

"Sentiment comes into it, you want to give players a chance because they're the ones who have got us up to the Premier League, they are now club legends in their own right.

"I absolutely adore Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, but I think he's going to be a bit too lightweight for the Premier League.

"I think the same could be said for Ephron Mason-Clark, he just runs into brick walls all the time.

"There's been interest in Haji Wright, I think he might just about cut it for us, but Ellis Simms is nowhere near Premier League quality, we saw that when he was at Everton.

"Liam Kitching and Luke Woolfenden are way off the mark, Jay Dasilva has probably been our most improved player this season, but I don't think he's good enough for the Premier League.

"I think Jack Rudoni, if he can stay fit, is Premier League quality, but maybe for mid-table teams or teams towards the bottom of the league.

"The one player out of all of them who should be able to walk into the Premier League for pretty much any team and absolutely smash it is Rushworth, he's been absolutely incredible this season.

"Thomas Tuchel is already looking at him for potential England call-ups, Brighton have put a £15-20 million price tag on him apparently, which I don't fully believe because that's not really what they do.

"That's not really Brighton's way of dealing with transfers, they don't really make anything like that public knowledge.

"But if that's what he's available for, then a lot of bigger clubs than us are going to be in for him.

"We're realistically going to have to do a Sunderland if we want to stay up.

"There are two options really, we either go down that route and bring in loads of new players or we build a Championship super team in the hope that when we go down again, we can come back up.

"I don't want to do that, but I can see us doing it because Doug King has already alluded to the fact that we're probably not going to be spending tons of money."

Doug King and Frank Lampard must be ruthless this summer if Coventry City win promotion

It is understandable that clubs would ideally like to remain loyal to those players who got them promoted, but Coventry would need to do plenty of work to their squad this summer if they were to reach the Premier League.

While the Sky Blues have been the dominant force in the Championship this season, the standard at the top of the league has not been as high as in previous seasons, and their weaknesses have been exposed at times, particularly defensively.

King is right that Coventry should look to retain some of the identity that has served them so well in recent years, but the ruthless approach taken by Sunderland last summer should act as a model for promoted clubs to follow if they want to establish themselves in the top flight.