Sideways Sammy

After a largely solid, albeit unremarkable, loan spell last season, Coventry City have moved to sign Luis Binks on a permanent deal. The left-footed centre-back showed moments of promise – with an excellent tackle on Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes in the FA Cup Semi-Final the undoubted highlight of his first year at the club – but only really established himself as a first-choice player in the final weeks of the season. While that could well indicate that Binks is developing and improving as he has adapted to Championship football, but there is not much evidence to suggest that his signing is a step towards the significant improvement in defence that this team needs for the coming campaign.

The strongest attribute of Luis Binks that has been apparent over his first year at the club is his passing ability from centre-back. While that has led him to occasionally overcomplicate things by attempting difficult, big passes when shorter ones would do, in a team that is currently without someone who can spread the play from deep, Binks’ ability to open up the game with raking balls from the back could become especially valuable over the coming season. As a defender, Binks struggled with the physicality of the Championship in his first few months at the club, which was why Liam Kitching was ultimately preferred at left centre-back, and while it looks like he’s become more physically imposing, that is an element of his game that he will need to prove he has grown in over the coming season if he wants to establish himself as a first-choice player.

On paper, signing a 22 year old left-footed centre-back who’s just had a year to get accustomed to Championship football on a four-year deal is a smart investment by the club. Luis Binks showed probably just about enough over the course of the campaign to suggest that he has the ability to establish himself as a good player at this level of football, especially if he can build on his performances in the final weeks of the campaign. The issue with signing Binks permanently is that it doesn’t seem to address the issue of a lack of experience and authority that looked to plague the defence last season and possibly robs the club of the opportunity to add a player to the back-line who does. While there is every possibility that Luis Binks could soon become a good centre-back at Championship level, the immediate challenge will be for him, and the rest of the back-line, to develop the authority and resoluteness to stem the flow of sloppy goals conceded that dogged the team last year.