Coventry City transfer news: Frank Lampard 'closing' on new goalkeeper after Carl Rushworth, Filip Jorgensen interest

Coventry City are reportedly close to sealing the signing of Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.

Since securing promotion to the Premier League, the Sky Blues have struggled to bring in a number one for 2026-27.

Although a report linked them with Chelsea's Filip Jorgensen on Tuesday, their natural preferred choice has been Rushworth, who played every Championship fixture during a loan stint as Coventry cantered to the league title.

Despite Rushworth only having one year left on his contract, Brighton have played hardball over a fee, aware of how strongly Coventry want to sign the 25-year-old.

However, as per talkSPORT's Alex Crook, Coventry have now made the breakthrough with their Seagulls counterparts.

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How much are Coventry paying for Rushworth?

The report claims that Coventry will be paying a club-record £22.5m to sign the former England Under-21 international.

Brighton have also been successful with inserting a sell-on clause and buy-back option in the agreement.

Coventry will now expect to finalise the signing in due course to end what has become a lengthy saga.

Frank Lampard has already added Eintracht Frankfurt defender Aurele Amenda, last season's Brentford loanee Frank Onyeka and Burnley's Loum Tchaouna to his squad.

Their spending will reach £65m once Rushworth's transfer to the CBS Arena has been completed, with no money generated through sales.

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The Premier League a step up for Rushworth

While many will feel that Rushworth deserves his chance in the Premier League, it will represent a significant step up.

He has made a total of 179 appearances across spells with Walsall, Lincoln City, Swansea City, Hull City and Coventry, without making a single senior outing for Brighton.

Impressively, though, Rushworth has kept 56 clean sheets across those matches, 17 of which came in last season's Championship.

If Rushworth could reach half of that figure in the Premier League in 2026-27, Lampard would likely be satisfied.