Frank Lampard is assembling his Coventry City squad for next season, and an intriguing transfer target has emerged.
Lampard ended Coventry’s 25-year Premier League absence by guiding them to the Championship title in the 2025/26 season, and the Sky Blues’ first aim will simply be to stay in the top-flight.
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That will inevitably entail additions to the squad, and a one-time England centre-back is on Lampard’s radar.
As revealed in talkSPORT’s Transfer Notebook earlier on Tuesday, Coventry are weighing up a move for Southampton defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The former Manchester City youth player earned his only England cap to date in November 2024, scoring in the Three Lions’ 5-0 Nations League win over the Republic of Ireland at Wembley.
But if the 24-year-old is to become a Coventry player, there could be some making up to do.
Harwood-Bellis and Lampard were among those involved in a post-match scuffle following Southampton’s 1-1 Championship draw with Coventry at St Mary’s in January, which resulted in both clubs being fined.
After Lampard had provoked the home fans, sparking the coming together inside the centre circle, Harwood-Bellis said he told the ex-Chelsea and England midfielder, ‘You are better than that’ – to which Lampard responded by saying: “You’re a young lad – show me some respect.”
Harwood-Bellis later found himself embroiled in controversy amid the ‘Spygate’ saga which saw Southampton thrown out of the Championship play-offs.
Having mocked Middlesbrough, who the Saints defeated in the semi-finals before being disqualified, with a ‘binoculars’ celebration – a reference to a Southampton intern being spotted spying on a Boro training session in the build-up to the tie – Harwood-Bellis was forced to apologise.
In an Instagram post, he wrote: “It’s been nothing but an honour to walk this team out and represent every fan watching in the stands.
“So it feels right that I speak to you guys directly about what has unfolded this week. As players, we are absolutely gutted, disappointed, and heartbroken that it’s come to this.
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“We worked so hard as a group to provide the football that you fans deserve. For those of us involved in the relegation, it only fuelled our comeback.
“We knew what it felt like to play in the Premier League, and we were driven by the belief that we could bring that back to you all.
“I’d also like to put on record that, had I known the severity of the situation, I would never have done what I did on the pitch.”
Harwood-Bellis made 46 appearances for Southampton in all competitions in the recent campaign – helping the Saints beat Arsenal to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.
Coventry have already made one signing since clinching promotion back to the top-flight in April as their promotion activated a clause in Frank Onyeka’s contract.
The Sky Blues will find out who they will face in their first Premier League game for a quarter of a century when the 2026/27 fixtures are announced on June 19.
