Bristol City CEO Richard Gould has revealed that the club have rejected offers for "four or five" of their players and, while not confirming their identities, has indicated Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo are two of them but the club are in no rush or have an obligation to sell anyone.
City’s star duo have been the subject of intense transfer speculation so far in this window and manager Nigel Pearson has weekly had to address the situation. On Thursday, he insisted there had been no new bids for any of his players but speaking on BBC Radio Bristol, Gould offered a wider picture of the situation with just over two weeks of the window remaining.
Bournemouth, Burnley and Crystal Palace have been linked with Semenyo, while attention on Scott is even wider with the Cherries, Wolves, Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City all seemingly in the picture.
“We’ve had offers for four or five players; none of them have met our requirements or expectations and we’re keen to try and retain the squad as we go into the second half of the season,” Gould told host Geoff Twentyman.
“We know that often money talks but we’re focused on keeping the squad and the team together because, although we haven’t got the points total that we want, there have been some really promising performances and we’re intent on trying to keep that momentum going.
“I wouldn’t name them. There’s always a lot of speculation and you can probably guess a couple of them… that’s the kind of level of interest that there has been and, it’s funny when you’re on Twitter and you're seeing some of the stuff that comes through and it’s interesting to see what’s true and what’s not.
“The truth is, when you look at some of the players we’ve got who have come through the academy and are developing here, they’re bound to attract some attention and we’re proud of that.”
Semenyo, who has 18 months remaining on his contract, is believed to be valued in the £12m-£15m bracket, while the Telegraph reported last week that Wolves have cooled their interest in Scott after being quoted £25m for the England Under-20 international.
Gould didn’t want to concentrate on those two individuals, branding the specifics around the offers “commercially sensitive information”, but did concede that City’s value will be based on what young English talent in the Championship has previously been sold for.
Keane Lewis-Potter, 21, was sold by Hull City last summer to Brentford for an initial £16m potentially rising to £20m while Nathan Collins, 21, left Burnley for Wolves in a £20.5m deal. City could also point to their sales in 2019 of Lloyd Kelly to Bournemouth for an initial £15m, rising to beyond £20m if all obligations are met, and Adam Webster to Brighton & Hove Albion for £20m as benchmarks.
Other players who could also be leaving the club over the next fortnight, albeit for smaller fees, are Dan Bentley, Han-Noah Massengo, Chris Martin, Jay Dasilva and Timm Klose, who are all on expiring contracts and Pearson has previously admitted individuals in such a situation could be dealt to enable him to bring in new signings this month.
“Every bid is treated with respect,” he added. “I wouldn’t get into the numbers because it puts us in a poorer position in terms of the market. Some stuff, I know it’s frustrating for fans, but we don’t want to give away commercially sensitive information at this point.
“We’ll have a number in mind and ultimately it will be determined by the market and the where demand is for players and sometimes our expectations may be beaten, in terms of the demand for a particular player.
“When you look at the number of transfers there have been from the Championship into the Premier League over the last couple of years, they have reduced significantly, by something like a third, because lots of Premier League clubs are looking abroad now, to bring in good young players and therefore it’s not the size of the market that it used to be.
“But we think there is a premium for British-developed young players.
“Some of the interest was shown early and that shows the level of priority for the clubs and I think that then allows us to war game and strategise if our market requirement is met then we have got other options available to ensure the squad is strengthened as a result of that.
“We have our own ambitions as a team and a club. We’re not in a rush to sell, at all. Like all the supporters we enjoy it when the young players come through; they’re still developing, they’re great talent - not just those we’ve received offers for - and they’re enjoying each other's company on the pitch.”
Gould maintained the position that Pearson won’t be able to bring in any new players until someone is sold but when asked about City’s position in terms of meeting the EFL’s Profit & Sustainability regulations, appeared confident they would be in the threshold and avoid a points deduction.
City’s accounts for 2021/22 revealed losses of £28.5m - a reduction of £10m - and although that, when combined with previous seasons, would normally place them outside of the financial requirements laid down by the authorities, the EFL have introduced a number of add-backs, due to the impact of Covid-19 on clubs, permitting various discounts in terms of gate revenue, money spent on infrastructure and transfer income.
Indeed, football finance expert Kieran Maguire estimates the Robins are around £12m inside the limit, when all the averaging rules are taken into consideration.
“We think that we’re going fine for this year,” Gould said. “The reason we say think, we’ve done the numbers and we’ve submitted those numbers and they go through a variety of stages in the Football League and there is one final stage to go through and, for the moment, we’re confident that we will be within the parameters for this year.”
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