It didn’t quite work out for Hiwula at the Sky Blues but he’s got plenty of talent

Andy

Turner, Sky Blues reporter for the Coventry Telegraph, gives the lowdown on new Pompey signing Jordy Hiwula.

The striker is set to pen a short-term deal at Fratton Park, having been released by Coventry at the end of last season.

In total, Hiwula scored 17 goals in 61 appearances during his two-year spell in the West Midlands.

Here’s how he fared for Coventry...

Jordy Hiwula was largely played out of position at Coventry. He was played on the left of a front three, rather than a striker, and always used to cut in.

That was a frustration for him because he always wanted to play through the middle, although he never really complained about it.

I guess it was a legitimate reason why he perhaps felt he did not do as well as he might have done in the circum-stances.

On his day, he is a terrific striker. He’s good at dribbling with the ball, gets in around the box, is quite mobile and can find the back of the net.

But during his time at Coventry, he was a bit too hit and miss and never found any consistency to his game.

If you look at his record, he’s scored goals in League One – at Fleetwood and Bradford. He was also Coventry’s leading scorer with 13 in the 2018-19 season so he knows the level.

He’s a confidence player who needs an arm around the shoulder and someone to get the best out of him consistently.

It didn’t really work out for him at Coventry after having a good pedigree via Manchester City’s academy and then being signed from Huddersfield for quite a lot of money at the time.

Big things were expected and he did have some good games for the Sky Blues on his day but didn’t do it enough.

He fell out of favour last season, not playing after December, and clearly wasn’t going to figure in their future plans.

Matty Godden was firstchoice striker, with two attacking midfielders playing in behind.

I’m sure Hiwula will say he could have played in one of those roles but Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen were ahead and played so well.

If he’d have grasped the nettle and scored left, right and centre then he’d have got more chances through the middle but he wasn’t prolific and was used wider.

He can definitely make an impact from the bench and has a point to prove – not least to himself.

He’s been in the wilderness for the past eight months and needs to get his career back on track. Hiwula’s just turned 26 so he’s not getting any younger.

He will want to prove he can still cut it at League

One level and I’m sure he will still have ambitions to play in the Championship.

Now Hiwula needs to pull his finger out and show what he can do.