Ben Sheaf makes summer transfer admission amid contract update and Premier League ambitions.
Coventry City transfer news from CoventryLive as Ben Sheaf opens up about summer interest in him from ‘a few clubs,’ his contract situation and ambitions to play in the Premier League, preferably with the Sky Blues.
Ben Sheaf admits that he had firm interest from “a few clubs” in the summer but that Coventry City wanted to keep him at the CBS Arena.
The 26-year-old former Arsenal prospect has developed into one of the best central midfielders in the Championship during his four years with the Sky Blues and, not surprisingly, has been linked with a number of clubs in the last two transfer windows. Premier League Fulham and Ipswich were among those mentioned in the summer, while Luton Town were linked last January while fighting to stay in the top flight, and again following their relegation back to the second tier.
Sheaf was appointed captain by manager Mark Robins in the close season, following the departure of Liam Kelly, and the manager admits his star midfielder has made no secret of his ambitions to play in the top flight.
“He’s a top player at the level and I think he knows that,” said the City boss. “I know that he thinks he should be playing in the Premier League, so that’s something that is there in him and within him. And he will be doing everything that he possibly can to make sure that he’s playing there as quickly as he possibly can do.
Now, hopefully that’s with us. And I was saying yesterday, that’s our ultimate goal but there are building blocks and stepping stones to getting there. You can’t just jump from one to the next, but people should be understanding of that and a little bit patient because that is the difficulty coming into this season when expectations were unreasonably high.”
Asked about the summer speculation linking him to several clubs and whether there was any truth in it, Sheaf told CoventryLive: “Yeah, there was stuff in it, for sure, but ultimately I am a Coventry player.
Asked whether there were approaches made to his agent or to the club, Sheaf revealed: “Yeah, approaches were made by a few clubs but, yeah, that’s done now and there’s nothing I can do about that. All my full focus is now literally getting promoted with this club. I have a lot of love for this club and I want to take them to the Premier League, and that’s what I am going to try to do.”
As for his contract situation, Sheaf has just over 18 months left on his current deal that runs out in the summer of 2026. Asked if there have been any fresh contract talks about extending his deal or if that’s something on the horizon, he said: “Not particularly, no.
“For me, I have only been back (from injury) for three or four games and my focus is just getting back to my best and playing my best football and starting to win games again. And if I do that then those other things take care of themselves.”
