Sideways Sammy

The departure of Matt Godden this summer meant that there was a space open for another striker to join the squad, few would have expected that to be filled by someone who was first-choice for a team that made the top six last season. More than anything, the signing of someone of the calibre of Brandon Thomas-Asante to play as second, or maybe even third, choice at striker underlines the position of strength that Coventry City are currently in. Importantly, Thomas-Asante isn’t just someone to come in for the odd game to hand Ellis Simms and Haji Wright a rest but genuinely offers something different as a valuable wildcard option to make the Sky Blues a much more difficult team to contain.

It is Brandon Thomas-Asante’s explosiveness as a footballer that is his stand-out quality. Matched with outstanding work-rate, Thomas-Asante applies himself with incredible speed and intensity that can be very difficult for defences to handle. Whether it’s in closing opponents down or running in behind, Thomas-Asante can frighten teams, which could be especially useful coming off the bench. The biggest issue that Brandon Thomas-Asante has is that he tries to do everything so fast that he can be very erratic in his end product. As someone to come in and out of the side to provide a point of difference, being incredibly fast and hard-working will be useful, if Thomas-Asante wants to develop into a first-choice player over time, then it will come down to whether he can discover that composure missing from this game.

While Brandon Thomas-Asante is not the finished product, he has not really been brought in to be that. The hope is that over a four-year contract, he can round off his game, but he has been signed to be an impact player either from the bench or to freshen things up during tough runs of fixtures. Thomas-Asante’ physical attributes and his work-rate make him almost perfect for that impact role, different enough from the current crop of forwards to have his own niche in the side but similar enough not to force the team to completely change its style to fit him in. Brandon Thomas-Asante adds another kind of threat to this Coventry City team, which could be worth a few extra places up the division.