Coventry City sign USA striker from Antalyaspor for £7.7m record fee

[dutchman]

Haji Wright is Mark Robins' ninth signing of the summer for Coventry City



Coventry City have broken their club transfer record to sign United States international striker Haji Wright from Turkish side Antalyaspor.

The £7.7m fee (9m Euros) beats the £6.5m paid to Norwich City when they signed Craig Bellamy in August 2000.

The 25-year-old USA international has signed a four-year contract to become City's ninth summer signing.

"We welcome Haji Wright for a club record transfer fee of 9m Euros," said City owner Doug King.

"We have been following Haji's career for many months and believe he will be a hugely exciting addition."

"This is a significant transfer for the club," said manager Mark Robins. "He is a quick, powerful striker, and a very good finisher, who will add another exciting attacking dynamic to our play and clear quality to our squad."

Wright's arrival, along with fellow striker Ellis Simms from Everton, for an undisclosed fee, follows the transfer of last term's top scorer Viktor Gyokeres to Sporting Lisbon for a Coventry club record sale fee, reported to be close to £20m.

Los Angeles-born Wright, who began his career with New York Cosmos, first came to Europe in late 2016 when he joined German side Schalke 04.

After being sent out on loan to German second tier side SV Sandhausen for the 2017-18 season, he made his Schalke debut in the 2018-19 campaign, netting once in seven appearances.

He then moved to Dutch Eredivisie side VVV-Venlo for the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 campaign, before moving again to Danish top-flight side SønderjyskE, where he scored 13 goals in 37 games.

Wright then moved to Turkish side Antalyaspor in 2021, initially on loan - and has scored 31 times in his two seasons there.

He played all four games for the United States at the 2022 World Cup, starting in the 0-0 draw with England, and coming off the bench in their other two group games.

He also played in the last 16 when he scored his second international goal in the 3-1 defeat by The Netherlands.