Coventry City: Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching deals deserve more attention | OneFootball

Coventry City have had their fair share of financial ups and downs in recent years, which has seen the club plummet all the way to League Two and back to the Championship - but their summer business likely won't see that happen for a long time.

The Sky Blues are currently in their fourth season in the second-tier and having finished 16th, 12th and fifth in that time, it appears the only way is up for the CBS Arena outfit. A lot of that is down to some superb recruitment from Mark Robins; the signing of Viktor Gyokeres from Brighton for just £1m before selling him for 20 times that amount is a key reason as to why Coventry are so consistent, and this summer's batch of signings could well have similar yields of profit.

Coventry's genius recruitment decision

Coventry's decision to sign both Thomas and Kitching was genius in one way more than others - the duo played alongside each other at Barnsley, with the Tykes almost going all the way to Championship promotion before unfortunately suffering a last-gasp play-off final loss to local club Sheffield Wednesday.

Thomas had featured sporadically for Premier League Burnley, but had understandably failed to break the mould set by Ben Mee and James Tarkowski in his time at Turf Moor - and with the Clarets securing promotion to the top-flight in an immediate return, chances were always going to be hard to come by for the defender.

With Thomas becoming available thanks to a lack of chances and Kitching wanting to ply his trade in the second-tier as a result of missing out on promotion, there was always going to be a chance for the duo to play together somewhere - and where better than Coventry City, who had received around £20million and £15million for the departing duo of Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer respectively.

Alongside other signings such as Milan van Ewijk, Haji Wright and more, it's clear to see why the Sky Blues are such a formidable outfit and that stems from top recruiting in the summer having lost their best two players.

The Sky Blues looked to have a real hangover from their rebuild in the summer when they had won just one of their first eight games in the Championship, though their results were clad with draws - and it felt only a matter of time until they would start picking up points.

A string of disappointing losses followed, with four in a row to Bristol City, Rotherham, West Brom and Preston throughout late October - but that loss at Deepdale marked an upturn in form. Since November 4, Coventry have played 13 games - losing just one to high-flying Ipswich Town, and drawing just four of the others, including at home to Southampton and away to Leeds United, who are also fighting for promotion.

A lot of that has been down to Thomas and Kitching. Thomas has played in all but two games this season, including being an ever-present since that loss to Preston; whilst Kitching has followed suit bar his sending off at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day. With Kyle McFadzean entering his late thirties, the only other out-and-out permanent centre-back at the club is Joel Latibeaudiere; and with the trio being 24 or younger, it's really set the Sky Blues up for the future.

Coventry are narrowly sat inside the top six, and they will be aiming to keep that a reality until the end of the season. It's been quite the rise for the Midlands outfit and underrated signings, like Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching, deserve more credit Championship-wide.