Coventry City set to shatter transfer record with £20 million signing of Premier League star

Coventry City are looking to obliterate their transfer record with their first signing after securing promotion back to the Premier League, reports claim.

Coventry stormed to the Championship title under Frank Lampard last season, racking up 95 points to achieve promotion to the top flight.

The Midlands outfit have not been in the Premier League since 2001 and are set to make a series of changes to their squad in order to be equipped for the task at hand.

However, Coventry are clear on who they want to be their starting goalkeeper as they want to stick with the shotstopper who was instrumental in their promotion.

On loan from Brighton, Carl Rushworth kept 17 clean sheets in 46 league games and was included in the Championship Team of the Season.

The England Under 21 international was so impressive that there was even talk that Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel was keeping tabs on Rushworth.

READ MORE: Frank Lampard 'targeting' Champions League winner for first Coventry signing in Premier League

But while he is still a Brighton player, Coventry want to sign Rushworth permanently and journalist Sam Cohen reported that they have submitted an offer of £20 million for Rushworth.

On X, Cohen told his 171,000 followers that talks are ongoing over the deal.

If the fee is accurate and negotiations are successful, Rushworth stands to become Coventry's most expensive ever transfer.

The current record is held by Coventry striker Haji Wright, who signed for a fee of £7.7 million from Antalyaspor in 2023 and has scored 49 goals in 124 appearances.

Before that, their highest-fee paid was £5.5 million to secure the services of Craig Bellamy from Norwich City in 2003.

Carl Rushworth was integral in Coventry's promotion to the Premier League. Image: Getty

Rushworth's loan with Coventry has been the sixth of his career and he has yet to make a first-team appearance for Brighton.

But the 24-year-old believes his pathway has made him a better goalkeeper and helped him become ready to be a Premier League goalkeeper.

"It was something that I spoke with Brighton about when I was young," Rushworth said in an interview with Sky Sports in March.

"My first loan was aged 18, and I went to Worthing in the seventh tier. But I didn't care about the level, I just wanted to play and get the physicality of the game, because I was still just young and quite skinny, getting bullied at almost every corner.

"But playing 30 games there, and then going back out to League Two and then League One, gradually taking the steps up, not jumping up too quick, it was massive for me to be at the point where I'm at now with around 160 league games by the age of 24. If I wasn't pushing that, I might have been lost in the system a little bit and be nowhere near the goalkeeper that I am now."