Struggling to get into the team at Rochdale in the division below us, it’s clear that Fabio Tavares isn’t coming to Coventry City to be immediately involved with the first-team squad. Prolific at youth level, Tavares has been on the fringes of the first-team at Rochdale over the past couple of years without doing enough to break into the starting XI. A pacey forward, Tavares is coming to Coventry City due to the lack of a striker in the under-23 side with a serious prospect of eventually breaking through into the first-team.
Although Tavares isn’t coming in to immediately make an impact at first-team level, he potentially offers something our other forwards don’t have – raw pace. Given how congested the fixture list is this season and the amount of injuries every team is accumulating, Tavares could stand a decent chance of being involved somewhere down the line. It is up to the player to make sure that he works hard enough to be ready should that opportunity present itself. As it stands, Tavares would have to make a huge impression in training to break into the team or for there to be a heinous run of injuries to senior players.
This is a low-risk signing for the club and a fantastic opportunity for the player. At the very least, Tavares strengthens the under-23 side and raises the bar for the other younger players at the club as the look to reach first-team standard. If Tavares proves to be a hit, it will have been a tremendous piece of scouting. If he ends up barely playing for us, it is unlikely to have much of a negative impact on our short or long-term prospects.
Sideways Sammy 