With the departure of Leon Best to Newcastle in the final hours of the January transfer window, Coventry City manager is now on the lookout for a couple of new strikers to sign on loan until the end of the season.
The timing of Best's departure left no time for a replacement striker to be brought in on a permanent deal, but Mr Coleman is quietly pleased the way the winter transfer window worked out.
Chris Coleman moved to reassure fans that he and chairman Ray Ranson are committed to bringing in two new strikers, one an experienced and proven goal scorer and the other a young, promising striker with potential. The two men have been working together to identify and attract players of the type and quality they want at the Ricoh over the past few weeks.
Mr Coleman said, “We have been doing a lot of good work and it will be great if we can get one or two in next week. It will be great to get one but ideally we will get two strikers because we can’t just go with two with Freddy Eastwood and Clinton Morrison for the rest of the season.
“Football can be a funny thing but I am confident we can get players in on loan with a view to doing permanent deals in the summer. As soon as we had lost Besty on Monday, myself, Andy Thorn and the chairman sat down to discuss the players we want to bring in and we are trying to make sure we get it right.
“We have got a list with priorities as well as back-ups, and ideally we will get in a bit of experience and someone a bit younger, although it doesn’t always work that way.”
Gary Madine is not one of the players involved. He had been on loan at Coventry and has been seen by Coleman as one for the future, but Carlisle and 'City failed to agree terms, so the deal appears to be either dead or in abeyance for the time being.
Coleman admitted to being disappointed in losing Best, but thought the January transfer window had been generally good for Coventry City. Four new permanent signings, Richard Wood, Carl Baker, Gary Deegan and Chris Hussey, with Leon Barnett staying on loan from West Brom, for the remainder of the season.
Mr Coleman thought, “Besty’s move was inevitable although it came right at the end of the window which was not ideal for us, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to stay and we got the best deal we could for Coventry City. Once a club like Newcastle comes in, if we had turned it down we would have had a very unhappy player on our hands and you don’t want that type of negativity in the dressing room."
“We wish him all the best and we move on. We are in a good position in the league, just a point off the middle and two or three away from the top 10. We are disappointed to have lost a striker but on the whole it has been a good transfer window for us and we will keep moving and see what we can do in the loan market next week."