Carl Rushworth is set to make his Premier League debut next season, though it is still unclear whether that will come with Brighton & Hove Albion, Coventry City or another top-flight club.
The 24-year-old has played every one of Coventry City’s 42 league games this season and kept his 16th clean sheet in Saturday’s 0-0 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday, the most in the Championship. Coventry are 10 points clear at the top of the division with four games left and can seal promotion back to the top flight after 25 years if they draw at Blackburn Rovers on Friday night.
That has put Rushworth in the middle of two stories at once: a promotion push with Coventry and a contract decision that could shape his next move. He has a year left on his Brighton contract, with the club holding an option for a further year, and he has said he will sign another deal only if the current arrangement changes, with Bart Verbruggen staying as No 1 and Jason Steele as No 2.
Brighton signed Rushworth as a teenager from Halifax Town in 2019 and have sent him out on loan repeatedly to speed his development, at Walsall in 2021-22, Lincoln City in 2022-23, Swansea City in 2023-24, Hull City in 2024-25 and now Coventry. He turns 25 at the beginning of July, is 13 months older than Verbruggen and would command a healthy fee if he left Brighton without ever making a Premier League appearance for them.
There is still friction beneath the neat storyline of a goalkeeper on the rise. Rushworth has been shortlisted for the Championship player of the year award with Hayden Hackney, Femi Azeez and Zan Vipotnik, while Verbruggen is set to make his 100th appearance for Brighton at Tottenham on Saturday and has been linked with Bayern Munich. Brighton are already assessing their goalkeeping options for the 2026-27 campaign, and Rushworth’s future may depend on whether he stays in a system that has used him everywhere except where he wants to be.