City pair are waiting on England call
CITY’S Tom Bayliss and Dujon Sterling will find out this week if they have been called up for more England duty.
The Sky Blues pair took part in the Young Lions Under-19 European Championship finals in Finland over the summer when Academy graduate Bayliss was called up for the first time to represent his country.
Now they step up to Under20 level, along with manager Paul Simpson who also moves up a year group to ensure coaching continuity, and will find out on Friday whether they are required for a series of upcoming friendlies.
The Under-20s are scheduled to play Switzerland and the Netherlands early in September before facing Italy on Thursday, October 11, and Germany on Monday, November 19, the latter two fixtures being played at AFC Fylde’s Mill Farm Stadium and Colchester’s Jobserve Community Stadium, respectively, and both kicking Sky Blues Reporter MARC McNulty says the man Mark Robins wants to replace him would be a perfect fit for Coventry City.
The former Sky Blues favourite who smashed in an incredible 28 goals for the club last season believes Conor Chaplin is the man to fill his boots, insisting the fans will love him if he finally makes his move this week.
Chaplin is desperate for a move away from Fratton Park to further his career with more regular first team football rather than be used as an impact player from the bench.
The 21-year-old has been a summerlong target of Robins who has until Friday’s loan deadline to secure his services.
Pompey are prepared to let the player leave but manager Kenny Jackett insists only if he can get a suitable replacement, otherwise he’s going nowhere.
Chaplin has grown increasingly frustrated with the stalemate and at the weekend told Jackett that he wasn’t in the ‘right frame of mind’ to travel for the game at Doncaster Rovers. Instead, he stayed on the south coast and trained on Saturday morning. McNulty, who joined Championship Reading in the summer, knows the 21-year-old Portsmouth striker well after a season on loan at Fratton Park in 2015/16 when he scored 12 goals. Chaplin scored 11 (seven from the bench) during the same period. Speaking to the Telegraph, McNulty revealed that he still keeps in regular contact with Chaplin who, he believes, will benefit from working with Robins and get the goals to fill the current void left by his move to the Royals. “I worked with Conor at Portsmouth and have stayed in touch ever since!” said McNulty who will, no doubt, have told the player all about the set-up and staff at City. “He’s a great lad with an amazing attitude. He always wants to learn. “He’s a great all-round player that the fans will love! “His work-rate is outstanding and I have no doubt he will bring goals to the team.”
McNulty says he became a better player working under Mark Robins and he’s convinced that Chaplin will do the same if given the sort of game time he enjoyed during his season at the Ricoh Arena.
“He just needs a regular game and working with someone like Mark Robins will bring out the best in him like it did me,” added McNulty, who still has a lot of affection for the Sky Blues and clearly wants them to continue to do well in his absence.
The want-away Portsmouth striker has set his heart on a move to Coventry where there is a vacant No.10 shirt waiting to have his name printed on it, while he already knows several City players, having played with Michael Doyle, Liam O’Brien and Tom Davies during their time at Pompey. The forward has also attracted interest from League One rivals Barnsley, but the Portsmouth News says City continue to be the player’s first choice. A Pompey Academy graduate, Chaplin broke into the first team back in 2014/15 as a fresh faced 17-yearold, making nine appearances and scoring one goal. The following season saw him hit an impressive 11 goals from 38 appearances, seven of which were scored after going on from the bench in a season when Marc McNulty hit 12 for the south coast club on a season-long loan from Sheffield United. He continued to wade in with goals the following campaign, again, largely as an impact player, when Pompey were led to the League Two title by Michael Doyle . And he hit a further five more goals from 32 appearances last season. So far this term, however, he has been limited to just 24 minutes of first team football, further increasing his frustration.
I worked with Conor at Portsmouth and we’ve stayed in touch. He’s a great lad with an amazing attitude. He always wants to learn.