On Friday evening, the Sky Blues confirmed the signing of Swansea midfielder and captain Matt Grimes on a three and a half year deal, which saw him leaving the Swans after 10 years at the club.
The 29 year old was announced as Frank Lampard's first signing since becoming the Sky Blues head coach and had been admiring him for a long time, even since his first managerial job back at Derby and has admitted that he is 'one of the best midfielders in the Championship'.
The midfielder brings heaps of experience at this level and has just missed four games in the last six years in the Championship and he brings consistency to a Coventry squad which has played not very consistently so far this season.
His stats in the middle of the pitch so far this season have been some of the best in the league, including:
- 2887 touches (1st)
- 1765 touches in the middle third (1st)
- 8855 yards of carrying distance (1st)
- 1818 carries (1st)
- 2176 passes recieved (1st)
- 2349 passes completed (1st)
- 248 passes into the final third (1st)
- 80 accurate passes per 90 (2nd)
For context, our best player for accurate passes per 90 is Luis Binks, on 58.7 and with Lampard's typical possessive type of play, Grimes is the perfect player who can dictate play in the middle of the park and control a game.
He may not score many goals or get many assists, but the way he plays will contribute a huge amount especially when Lampard begins to reintroduce his possession based football, perhaps next season.
In a midfield of Sheaf, Grimes and Rudoni, there is no reason why we can't push for the playoffs this year after the unreal run of form in the last few weeks, especially as we have been playing without our three best players.