Badlan: Josh can be Pask master in lots of positions for Sky Blues
JOSH Pask arrived at Coventry City this week as the club’s seventh new face ahead of the new 2019/20 campaign.
A graduate of West Ham United’s Academy, the 21-year-old was regarded as one of the Premier League club’s brightest prospects a few short years ago.
But like so many top end development players, Pask is now taking a step down to get his senior career up and running, following the likes of Brandon Mason who was released by Watford last summer and whom promptly established himself as a League One regular with the Sky Blues.
Although deployed more as a centre-back for the Hammers’ Under-23s, Pask’s versatility was a big attraction for City. Here, head of recruitment Chris Badlan gives an insight to the player’s qualities and explains where he sees him fitting in to Mark Robins’ new-look squad.
What qualities has he got?
“He’s an athletic, versatile defender who is very, very comfortable on the ball,” said Badlan.
“He’s 6ft 2in tall so he’s good in the air as well as on the deck, and he’s got all the traits of a modern day defender, you could say.”
Where do you seeing him fitting in?
“He’s played at right-back, as he did when he was on loan at Gillingham when he was 18. He can play at centre-back, which is where he played at West Ham and he can also play as a holding midfielder,” he said.
“But from our side of things we see him as one that’s pushing the defenders. He can push and compete with Fankaty Dabo at right-back and also, if need be, he can play at centre-back.
“But we also need to bear in mind that we have got Morgan Williams, Declan Drysdale and Jordon Thompson beneath that, but he will enable them time to develop as well.
“We talked about Pask last summer and then once the opportunity came up the manager spoke to a couple of people at West Ham and got really good feedback from them, so that was a big plus point.
“And his versatility gives us options rather than going out and getting another designated right-back. If you get an injury at centre-back you don’t know if one of the younger ones are ready straight away.
“But predominantly, we see Josh as pushing in that right-back slot.”
So what type of full-back is he?
“He gets forward and is very quick and good on the ball,” he said.
“You’d call him more of a defensive full-back than attacking full-back, I suppose, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get forward.
“I always saw Jack Grimmer as more of a defensive full-back but he got forward as well.”
What can you tell us about his character?
“He’s got his head screwed on,” said Badlan. “He works with a lot of charities and is a really good character.
“He was in Romania working with orphans over the summer so that highlights how mature he is. You don’t get many like that.”
Coming from a Premier League club, how highly rated is he?
“We were shocked when we heard West Ham were letting Pask go because when he was growing up at 16, 17 and 18 he was their best Academy player,” he said.
“All the talk was about Josh Pask, so if we can get him going and playing men’s football we hope to get him to kick on.
“We have to be taking those types of players – the ones that are falling out of the Premier League but shouldn’t.”