One set for a record transfer to Burnley as per an existing agreement is required in the case of Haji Wright v. Ellis Simms.
We take a look at the Sky Blues’ summer signings and judge who’s better at the moment.
Firstly, they had to get over losing the play-off final and that was always going to be a difficult task, because it was a heartbreaking defeat after they managed to take Luton Town to penalties.
Two players who played a crucial part in their equaliser at Wembley, Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer, have both left the club with the duo sealing big-money moves away from the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Gyokeres was a prolific goalscorer for Mark Robins’ men and Hamer was so crucial in the middle of the park, with the Leicester City game earlier this season reinforcing just how important he was for the Sky Blues.
Not only did key players leave – but several have come in too and they all needed time to settle in, so the start of the season was never going to be completely smooth despite how well they have done under Robins in recent seasons.
Managing to sell Gyokeres and Hamer for big fees, owner Doug King was prepared to reinvest a lot of that money into the first team, with Ellis Simms and Haji Wright coming for big fees during the summer.
We compare the duo and judge who’s better at the moment.
How do Haji Wright and Ellis Simms’ stats compare?
Considering both players are strikers, it would make sense to start with how many goals both have scored this term.
Scoring two goals and registering two assists in 12 competitive appearances this season, Wright hasn’t made the most spectacular start to life at the CBS Arena.
In fairness to him, he was unlucky not to score on his debut after smashing the ball against the crossbar against Leicester.
He did score 29 league goals in two Turkish Super Lig seasons for Antalyaspor during 2021/22 and 2022/23 though – and has scored two goals in seven appearances for the United States.
At 25, the American has achieved a fair amount.
In terms of Simms, he has scored two goals in 12 competitive appearances, with both of these goals coming against Queens Park Rangers.
If it wasn’t for those goals at Loftus Road, he’d be under a bit of pressure right now. But he did score seven goals in 17 league games for Sunderland last term and that will give the Sky Blues’ supporters hope that he can be a real asset at this level.
Both Wright and Simms have received very similar average WhoScored ratings this season, with the former scoring 6.44 and the latter on 6.41.
In terms of their passing accuracy, Simms’ (70.1%) is better than Wright’s (67.9%), but the latter does have more assists. And plenty of their stats are very similar like that.
Who is better out of Haji Wright and Ellis Simms?
At the moment, you have to say that Wright is probably the better player.
However, Simms may have a higher ceiling considering he’s only 22 and the American is 25.
Shining for the Black Cats last term, the 22-year-old has shown that he can be a goalscoring asset at this level, but it remains to be seen whether he will get the minutes needed to prove his worth, with Wright for competition and Matt Godden performing very well this term.
