Sideways Sammy

The prospect of re-signing former star players is the kind of thing that fans talk about far more than ever seems to happen. In an era where Coventry City have been trying to be smart about their transfer business, the prospect of bringing Gustavo Hamer back to the club seemed especially remote until talks intensified over recent weeks. There is little doubt about Hamer’s talent but just where a great individual who has starred in the Championship for much of the past five years fits into a Coventry side that has built its way to Premier League football around the quality of the collective is the key tension behind this signing.

In his three-year first spell at Coventry City, Gustavo Hamer was the midfield dynamo who dominated games and did just about everything that could be desired in a midfielder. Whether it was producing spectacular goals and assists in the final third, dictating play from deep, or getting stuck into the challenge, Hamer was at the beating heart of everything Coventry did. During his spell with Sheffield United, Hamer has often played in a wide left role where he’s been freed from defensive responsibilities, floating around dangerous areas of the pitch and producing moments to open games up. It feels like the kind of role he might struggle to excel in at Premier League level but having moved away from the domineering central role he previously revelled in, it raises the question of where exactly he fits in.

The answer seems to be that Gustavo Hamer is not going to be the main man he once was for the Sky Blues and has been for Sheffield United. The tension with this signing is what impact simply signing a talented player is regardless of how he fits into the team, against how happy Hamer might be with playing a potentially supplementary role. There is little doubt that Gustavo Hamer is capable of further box office moments on top of what he’s already produced in a Coventry City shirt but whether, at Premier League level, he is the calibre of player worth changing up the transfer strategy for remains to be seen.