Coventry City: Transfer near-misses

Freddy Eastwood’s on-off transfer to Coventry City is off at the time of writing.

The Wolves man may or may not have been the player to fire the Sky Blues into the top-flight but here Vital Coventry looks at some others who got away.

Trevor Francis: Unbelievably, City were among the clubs bidding to sign the first £1m player in January 1979, despite years of falling gates, player sales and money worries.

Francis opted for Nottingham Forest, perhaps unsurprisingly as they were the reigning champions of England and on their way to the first of two European Cups.

Jose Perdomo: The arrival of a Uruguayan international midfielder was a far more exotic prospect in 1990 than in would be today perhaps.

Perdomo signed on loan from Genoa of Italy just months after featuring in the World Cup. Despite being a hefty size and not one to stray too far from the centre circle, he made an instant impression in his handful of games for the club.

John Sillett could not close the deal however and departed himself just a few weeks later.

Chris Marsden: Another loan star, Marsden came from the less exotic surroundings of Huddersfield Town but made an even greater impression than Perdomo.

One game that particularly stood out was a televised clash against Swindon Town at the start of 1994. Despite the game ending 1-1, Marsden orchestrated a superb City display.

The board hesitated, Wolves nipped in and Marsden never pulled on a Sky Blues shirt again.

Robert Jarni: A star of the 1998 World Cup, City thought they had pulled off a massive coup in signing the Real Betis and Croatia left-back just weeks later.

Jarni however (and his wife according to reports at the time) had second thoughts and never played for the Sky Blues, although his quickfire sale to Real Madrid did yield a tidy profit.

Thanks to Jim Brown’s superb book Coventry City – The Elite Era – A Complete Record for help with this article.