Coventry City must have expected more from Derby County freebie: View

Martyn Waghorn signed a free move to Coventry City, however he had trouble contributing for Mark Robins’ team.

When Coventry City announced in the summer of 2021 that they had signed seasoned striker Martyn Waghorn, it looked like a major coup, but things didn’t exactly pan out that way for the Sky Blues.

Waghorn had played in the Scottish Premiership with Glasgow giants Rangers and had a wealth of EFL experience from stints with clubs like Leicester City, Wigan Athletic, Ipswich Town and Derby County.

In order to prepare for their second straight season in the Championship, Mark Robins acted quickly to acquire Waghorn to their roster after his contract at Pride Park expired in the summer of 2021.

Waghorn’s tenure at Coventry City was likely his only poor spell in his career, despite having a very successful EFL career. He never lived up to his potential when playing for the Sky Blues.

Martyn Waghorn did not perform to the level expected at Coventry City.

Following a strong debut campaign in the Championship that saw them place 16th, Coventry needed to strengthen their roster, and signing Waghorn on a free transfer seemed like a wise choice.

He had a respectable start to life in the Midlands by going straight into their starting XI for the first few weeks of the 2021/22 Championship season. On September 11, 2021, the Sky Blues defeated Middlesbrough 2-0, and he scored to finish off a solid start to his Coventry career.

But as the weeks went by, Waghorn found it more and more difficult to get starts. He also missed a significant portion of the season (October through January), which made it challenging for him to establish himself in the starting lineup.

Waghorn had a bright beginning to his career at the CBS Arena, but he was forced to settle for bench appearances for the most part during the second half of the season. This wasn’t helped by Viktor Gyokeres starting to show signs of improvement.

During the 2021–2022 season, Waghorn made a total of 29 appearances for the Sky Blues across all competitions, with two assists and one goal.

Waghorn didn’t have the best of debut seasons, but he was still a member of the Robins squad the next year, mostly as a reserve.

But in October 2022, he did add another goal to his Coventry record as he scored a vital penalty to help his team defeat eventual promotion winners Sheffield United 1-0.

He was unable to capitalise on this, though, and in January, he signed a six-month loan with Huddersfield Town before being released the following summer.

Waghorn made 42 appearances for the Sky Blues in all, tallying 3 assists and 2 goals.

Martyn Waghorn has improved since coming back to Derby County.

Waghorn, who had played for Derby County before moving to Coventry, was a free agent and went back there.

The 34-year-old striker has battled ailments, but when he has played, he has performed admirably.

After being demoted in 2022, he has seven goals in 26 games this season, and it appears that he will play a major role in the Rams’ return to League One.

This summer marks the end of his Pride Park deal, so it’s unclear what the Rams would do in the event that they get promoted to the Championship.

Waghorn would have welcomed going back to Derby and having the opportunity to score some goals after having trouble scoring at the CBS Arena following a challenging few seasons at Coventry.

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