Bristol City have begun their pre-season training camp in Austria with manager Nigel Pearson electing not to include full-back Kane Wilson and centre-back Joe Low among his travelling party. Bristol Live understands the duo have been left behind to train with the Under-21 squad at the High Performance Centre casting a degree of doubt over the futures at the club.
In Wilson’s case, it’s understandable given the 23-year-old was on the verge of being sold to League One Bolton Wanderers prior to the start of pre-season only for the deal to break down. By not being selected for Austria this week, Wilson’s departure appears a matter of when rather than if, providing a suitable destination and buyer can be found.
Pearson has George Tanner, Ross McCrorie and academy product Harry Leeson, who replaced Wilson in the matchday 18 towards the end of last season, as his right-back options for the camp.
Low’s absence can be viewed as a surprise, however, as the 21-year-old was part of the full Wales squad in June for their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Turkey and Armenia and was involved with the Robins first-team squad last season before his loan at League Two Walsall.
Having outgrown - literally and figuratively - the Under-21 set-up in terms of his performances, this summer was seen as an opportunity for the Bristolian to stake his claim for the 2023/24 Championship campaign, especially with City light in the centre-back department.
Low, who is under contract until next summer, is not injured and although he theoretically still has a chance of forcing his way into Pearson’s thinking when the games programme begins, with Reading first up at the HPC on July 12, but with City in the market for another central defender, he appears some way down the initial hierarchy.
Alongside senior figures Zak Vyner and Rob Dickie, Pearson has chosen to take Raphael Araoye and Callum Wood from the U21s as his other centre-backs, while Haydon Roberts is also a consideration in the position.
With his contract having expired last Friday, Tomas Kalas has not joined the squad although the potential of the Czech Republic international re-signing continues to not be ruled out, however the chances of that occurring are increasingly diminishing with each day.
Along with Leeson, Araoye and Wood, other academy products working with the senior squad who possess either limited or no first-team experience are: midfielders Omar Taylor-Clarke and Jed Meerholz, winger Marlee Francois and forwards Ephraim Yeboah and Seb Palmer-Holden, who was part of last year’s trip, plus goalkeepers Harvey Wiles-Richards, Mac Boyd and Joe Duncan.
At 16, Yeboah is the youngest member of the group in Europe. The teenager has trained with the first-team all week and impressed with his fitness on day one of pre-season finishing second to Ayman Benarous in the first group that undertook the SDS Test.
The four players to have missed the opening section of pre-season - Alex Scott, Tommy Conway, McCrorie and Mark Sykes - have all travelled having linked up with the group over the last four days.
It's unclear what City's plans are regarding goalkeeper Stefan Bajic following France's elimination at the European Under-21 Championships. In normal circumstances, Bajic would be afforded extra time off but the 21-year-old hasn't played a single minute at the tournament and could therefore join his club teammates later this week.
Unlike the 2022 camp in Austria, where City took a coach to Heathrow before flying to Vienna followed by another long journey by road to the south east of the country, the club chartered a flight on Sunday from Bristol to significantly reduce travel time and potential logistical delays.
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