Coventry City are on the cusp of tying their star midfielder Jack Rudoni down to a bumper new contract – and the move ensures his Premier League suitors, Leeds, Fulham and West Ham, will now need to dig deep if they are to prise the star away from the CBS Arena in 2026.
The Sky Blues were beaten play-off semi-finalists last season, losing out in the dying seconds of extra time as a Dan Ballard header fired Sunderland to Wembley. The Black Cats went on to beat Sheffield United in the final and have since gone from strength to strength, making a strong start to life back in the Premier League.
On the flip side of that semi-final loss, the Sky Blues’ talisman, Rudoni, cut a miserable figure and there must have been some supporters fearing their continued status as a second-tier club would enforce their star man’s sale over the summer.
Yet despite interest from Leeds, Fulham, and West Ham, the only concrete bid arrived from Southampton. And with Saints’ offer waved away, Rudoni remained with Frank Lampard‘s side.
All three Premier League sides, though, continue to be linked with a move, though with Coventry now on the cusp of agreeing a huge new deal, they will now be forced to dig even deeper to prise the 24-year-old away.
His current arrangement was due to expire in summer 2028, but having made it clear he wants to stay, talkSPORT now reports he is on the brink of signing an extension to that deal, which will earn the player a ‘bumper’ pay-rise.
TalkSPORT state: “Coventry’s sought-after playmaker Jack Rudoni is close to putting pen to paper on a bumper new contract.
“The Sky Blues rejected a big-money offer from Southampton in the summer transfer window.
“Rudoni, 24, is also on the radar of a number of Premier League clubs, including West Ham and Fulham.
“However, the former Huddersfield ace is happy at the CBS Arena and willing to commit his future to Frank Lampard’s promotion hopefuls.”
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The new deal for Rudoni will further dampen Leeds’ chances of a possible 2026 raid on the Sky Blues for Rudoni, with the Whites in desperate need of a little more craft and goals from their midfield.
However, Lampard was never going to allow his star man to leave easily and news of his new contract is another in the face of Leeds, who have a long-standing rivalry with the player dating back to the summer of 2001 when the then-West Ham midfielder spurned the West Yorkshire side’s advances to move across London to join Chelsea instead.
That rivalry was rekindled in the Championship across the 2018/19 season when Lampard – then Derby County manager – accused then-Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa of ‘spying’ on his squad’s training sessions ahead of a Championship clash. Leeds, for whom Bielsa would confirm his involvement, but protesting his innocence by insisting he did not know he was breaking the rules, were then fined £200,000 as a result after being found guilty of breaching the EFL’s ‘good faith’ rules.
Incredibly, the two sides then met in the Championship play-off semi-finals just a few months later. Leeds won the first leg 1-0 at Pride Park, before going 1-0 up in the return at Elland Road. However, a second-half collapse in front of their aghast fans, sparked by a mix-up between Liam Cooper and Kiko Casilla in first-half stoppage time, saw the Rams prevail 4-3 on aggregate.
Now Lampard looks set to get another blow in on Leeds by tying Rudoni down to a big new deal.
While not talking specifically about Rudoni, Lampard insists he wants to keep his best players intact as he looks to mastermind another Coventry push for promotion.
“I haven’t specifically asked that question because this is football, and we are Coventry,” he told the Coventry Telegraph.
“We want to do the best, and my job is to try and push the best players, coach them well and if we can bring in better players, it helps us to move forwards. I think that’s clear.
“I don’t ask for those assurances because, at the end of the day, I understand how a club works and the position a club works under.
“I want to keep the best players, for sure, because I know that makes my job… not easier, but we want to have success and they’re crucial to it.”
Jack Rudoni’s stats since signing for Coventry
Jack Rudoni at Coventry City: Games 57 goals assists 14
Rudoni’s stats since joining Coventry