COVENTRY CITY POSITION MIDFIELDER AGE 23

Jack Rudoni was probably hoping for a bit more stability when he swapped Huddersfield Town for Coventry City in a £5m deal last summer. The midfielder had just been relegated to League One with the Terriers, under a fifth ‘permanent’ manager in two campaigns, as one of the few bright sparks at a club in crisis. So: a penny for his thoughts when Mark Robins, Coventry’s gaffer for nearly eight years, was sacked in November and replaced by Frank Lampard, 17 matches into the season and with the club in 17th place.

Yet the change proved to be a masterstroke for player and club alike. The Sky Blues shot up the table thanks, in part, to Rudoni’s purring displays. The former AFC Wimbledon youngster has enjoyed his most prolific season to date, registering 15 goal involvements (five goals and 10 assists) in his first 35 Championship outings. Those assists have resulted from a mixture of corners, free-kicks and open play, placing him among the division’s most creative players throughout 2024-25 – his average of 2.02 chances created per 90 minutes is the second-highest in the second tier.

Nine of those goal involvements have come since Lampard was appointed manager. Clearly, playing under one of the most prolific midfielders in English football history is bringing out the best in the south Londoner. But it’s actually another former Chelsea midfielder, rather than himself, that Lampard is reminded of when he looks at Rudoni. “I love seeing desire in players,” explained Lampard in March, having overseen a rise up the table since taking charge. “I always felt that with Mason Mount: working with him as a young player, I could see the look in his eye. I feel it a bit with Jack Rudoni here. He’s got something about him that says, ‘I want to train, gaffer – how can I get better? What can I do?’ That was me. And I love that. It’s very infectious to me.”