‘We believe in him’ – Can Haji Wright make the Premier League leap? Frank Lampard on USMNT striker’s next step at Coventry City

Lampard arrived at Coventry City in 2024 with something to prove and one clear objective: reaching the Premier League. As he assessed his new squad, Haji Wright quickly stood out as a player who could help take them there – just not in the role he had been playing.

“When I’ve come in, you evaluate the squad,” Lampard recalls, “and, as a coach, you always want strikers who can score goals because they win you games, effectively…Haji was playing a little bit on the left wing sometimes, and I just saw his profile as an absolute No. 9. 

“When we had a conversation, that’s exactly what he wants to be. So I think that was a nice marriage between him and me early on, where I was like, ‘I see him as a nine, and he was like, ‘I want to be a nine’. That was a good start.”

Wright has, of course, been one of the Championship’s top strikers during his tenure. After scoring 19 goals in his first season, he scored 12 in 27 in his second as Coventry fell short in the promotion playoff. They wouldn’t need a playoff last season, as Wright’s 17 goals led the team as they won the league and Premier League promotion outright.

Lampard’s belief in him was a key part of that. Strangely enough, so was that time as a winger prior to Lampard’s arrival. In some ways, it prepared him for the different challenges he’d face once he was moved back inside.

“It allowed me to be able to create my own chances,” Wright told GOAL last year. “Obviously on the wing, you’re a bit more isolated, and you’re not necessarily having players create chances for you, so most of the time, it’s driving to do it yourself if you’re that type of winger. When I was a winger, I’m more the kind of winger who’s gonna give you goals as opposed to assists.

It allowed me to be more comfortable on the ball, to be able to get into spaces and turn on it and progress the ball as well. Then it allowed me to improve my defensive work, which is also positive.”

The ability to do all of those little things will be vital, because, at this higher level, Coventry will need every last one of them.