[21 FEB 02] COVENTRY CITY NEWS

Arsenal Tracking Davenport

by Stuart Linnell

The 19 year old, who has been capped by England at schoolboy level, has impressed while making one start and three appearances as substitute for the Sky Blues first-team, but he apparently caught the eye of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in the reserve match between the clubs at Highfield Road in early January.

It was the night when Wenger had made a rare away trip with his reserve team to monitor the return from injury of Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, France Jeffers and Richard Wright. Adams had to limp off after only 20 minutes, but Davenport gave a typically cool display in a 3-2 win for City Reserves and is said to have made his mark with the Arsenal boss.

The national press are speculating that Arsenal are ready to bid between £2 million and £3 million for Davenport, and are particularly keen as Adams injury has flared up again.

A Sky Blues spokesman said:

“It’s all speculation. There has been no bid for Calum, therefore there is nothing for us to comment on.”