Key Coventry City player issues honest update on contract situation

Callum O’Hare made his long-awaited return to action this week after a 10-month layoff with a knee injury

The comeback that Coventry City fans had been waiting for for a long, long time finally happened on Wednesday night as Callum O’Hare returned to the pitch after 10 months away.

The attacking midfielder, who was signed from Aston Villa in the summer of 2020 after a successful League One loan stint with the Sky Blues, had missed most of the 2022-23 season due to two significant injuries.

O’Hare tore his hamstring on the eve of the campaign, at a time where Burnley were heavily touted to land his services, and just two months after recovering from that particular issue, a ruptured ACL on Boxing Day 2022 against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane ended his season.

Like any serious knee injury, O’Hare’s recovery has been slow and arduous, but with Cov chasing the game against Rotherham United earlier this week, Mark Robins turned to the diminutive midfielder 15 minutes from time for his comeback.

City lost 2-0 in the end, but there was a lot of joy to see O’Hare back on the pitch – the issue remains though that his contract, like Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres had in the summer before they were sold, is expiring in the summer of 2024.

What has Doug King said on Callum O’Hare’s Coventry City contract situation?

At a Fans’ Forum event earlier this week, Coventry owner Doug King addressed O’Hare’s situation, with the knowledge in the public domain that his deal expires at the end of the current campaign.

And to the delight of many supporters, King revealed that there has been initial talks over a new deal for the 25-year-old.

“We’ve obviously been busy and he’s taken a while to come back,” King said.

“We know where he is in his contract situation and clearly we really rate him – and we’ve opened discussions and we’ll see how that all unfolds.

“It’s just one of those things.

“It seemed to me that when I came in, a lot of players were in an end of contract, like, quite short contracts, so it made it quite difficult to negotiate quite easily, you know, with Viktor and with Gus.

“Callum is in a similar sort of position and obviously we were set back with his injury.”

What has Callum O’Hare said on his Coventry City contract situation?

Whilst King said that discussions have begun in regards to O’Hare’s deal, it doesn’t look as though talks have gotten very far, which is perhaps to be expected when the midfielder has been out for so long.

Callum O’Hare’s Coventry City league statistics, per Transfermarkt, as of October 27, 2023
Season	Appearances	Goals	Assists
2019-20	29	3	4
2020-21	46	3	8
2021-22	45	5	8
2022-23	11	0	3
2023-24	1	0	0

Speaking on his current situation, O’Hare told the Coventry Telegraph: “I haven’t spoken to the club much about anything.

“I said to my agent, ‘listen, I’m injured and all I want to do is focus on getting back fit and playing and then when I am back fit then we can start talking properly.

“I love it here but all I am thinking about is getting fit.

“You wouldn’t understand unless you’ve been out injured.

“All you want to do is just play football and so when you’re in the gym every day you are not thinking about a contract, you’re just thinking about playing football.

“And now I am back I just want to focus on playing in front of the fans again.”