Burnley transfer stance should force Coventry City to look elsewhere: Opinion
A loan move for McNally may be a cheap option – but Coventry need to be looking at permanent additions instead.
Burnley are not keen on letting Luke McNally leave Turf Moor permanently and would prefer to see him go out on loan during this window, according to Coventry Live.
The former Oxford United centre-back is unlikely to win too much game time at Turf Moor next season, with Dara O’Shea coming in to replace Taylor Harwood-Bellis, and Jordan Beyer signing for the club permanently.
Ameen Al-Dakhil, Hjalmar Ekdal and Charlie Taylor are other options available to Vincent Kompany if the latter isn’t required at left-back, so it would be difficult to see McNally winning many pitch minutes at all, even in cup competitions.
Instead, he could potentially secure a loan switch to an EFL club, which would give him the opportunity to compete in 46 league games and show exactly why he should be a key part of the Clarets’ long-term plans.
Who is interested in Luke McNally?
Alan Nixon believes both Coventry and Millwall are keen on taking him, although the latter may struggle to secure a permanent deal.
The Clarets’ current stance means they won’t have to tie him down permanently, but Coventry could potentially tempt Kompany’s side with a cash offer if it’s big enough.
Viktor Gyokeres is on the verge of joining Sporting Lisbon, which should free up some funds for Mark Robins to spend. With a chunk of the increased budget the Sky Blues’ boss is likely to have, he may decide to try and lure McNally back to the Coventry Building Society Arena for the long term.
Gary Rowett will be just as desperate to sign the 23-year-old though, having seen Charlie Cresswell return to Leeds United following the end of last season.
It would be difficult to see Cresswell returning to The Den considering the Lions and the Whites could be potential promotion rivals next term.
Why do Coventry City need to look at alternative targets to Luke McNally?
The fact Burnley would prefer a loan move for the central defender suggests that it will take a lot of money for him to be lured away from Turf Moor for the long term.
Not only is he still young – but he has three years left on his contract and that will give Kompany’s side the license to demand a sizeable amount for him.
Coventry can probably afford to splash out on him considering Gyokeres’ big-money departure, but they need to bring in quite a few central defenders and should be focusing on building their defence for the long term with the increased budget they will have.
With this, utilising the loan market should probably be something they think about later on in the window.
And if the Clarets aren’t willing to budge on their stance, the Sky Blues should be looking at alternatives because they are in desperate need of addressing their central defence.
Not only have the likes of McNally, Jonathan Panzo and Callum Doyle left, but Michael Rose has been released and it’s unclear how long veteran Kyle McFadzean will be able to play on for.
If they can bring in two or three permanent signings, that could allow them to have stability in this department for the long term and it may even boost their hopes of getting to the Premier League after missing out narrowly at the end of last term.
