Coventry City and Ipswich could sign the next Vardy in deal for 23-goal star

Amid the play-off drama this week, Coventry City and Ipswich Town have an advantage over the team that will be joining them in the Premier League next season.

Both clubs sealed their promotions to the top-flight earlier this month and will have longer to put plans into place for the summer transfer window than whoever wins the play-offs has.

That does not mean that recruitment will be easy for Frank Lampard or Kieran McKenna, though, because both teams could end up competing for the same targets.

For example, Juventus centre-forward Lois Openda has been linked to both Coventry and Ipswich, as has the Championship’s top goalscorer Zan Vipotnik, who scored 23 goals in the second tier.

It is no surprise to see both clubs linked with a move for a centre-forward, as they will want a proven goalscorer to lead the line in the Premier League next season.

The best story of any newly-promoted team in history is Leicester City’s. They won promotion in 2014 and stayed up by the skin of their teeth in their first season, before astonishingly winning the Premier League title in their second year in the top-flight.

Jamie Vardy was, of course, one of the breakout stars in that unlikely title win, as the English centre-forward scored 24 goals in 36 appearances in the Premier League.

The former non-league marksman used his pace to run in behind and his clinical finishing to consistently punish opposition defences, leading the Foxes to a historic Premier League crown.

Vardy was signed from Conference Premier side Fleetwood Town, where he scored 31 times, and excelled in the Championship before eventually making a name for himself with Leicester in the top tier.

Now, Ipswich and Coventry need to find their own version of the English striker to help them kick on in the Premier League, even if not with the aim of winning the title.

Coventry and Ipswich could sign their own Jamie Vardy

Both the Sky Blues and the Tractor Boys have been linked with an interest in AZ Alkmaar centre-forward Troy Parrott, who could be the Premier League’s next Vardy.

The Ireland international’s form for the Dutch club shows that he has the potential to be a Vardy-esque goalscorer for Ipswich or Coventry because he has scored 43 goals in all competitions since the start of last season.

Parrott has also scored six goals in his last five games for Ireland, including a hat-trick against Hungary and a brace against Portugal, which shows that he can perform on the international stage as well as at club level.

His hat-trick goal against Hungary was very Vardy-esque in the way that he ran off the back of a defender and sniffed out a chance in the box, using his speed, instincts, and finishing quality to find the back of the net.

Like Vardy, the 24-year-old attacker would also arrive in the Premier League with something to prove, as he was let go by Tottenham Hotspur after only making four senior appearances.

Parrott is not a 6 foot 4 centre-forward who is going to win headers and hold the ball up incredibly well, as he has lost 56% of his duels in the Eredivisie this season, but neither was the former Leicester star, who lost 63% of his duels in their title-winning season.

The Irish marksman, who was hailed as a “sensational” player by former Republic of Ireland international Ray Houghton, utilises his speed, positioning, and the timing of his movements to create chances for himself.

He could be well suited to playing for Ipswich or Coventry because they will be battling against relegation and there will be plenty of chances for him to use his pace on the counter-attack to run into space, as Vardy often did during his time at Leicester.

It is now down to the two newly-promoted clubs to fight it out for his signature when the summer transfer window opens for business…