Nigel Pearson has admitted he is "not bothered" by Tyreeq Bakinson's departure to Ipswich Town because he doesn't want to keep players who don't want to be at the club.
The Bristol City manager was bullish in his stance on Bakinson, speaking just hours before a loan move was agreed with League One Ipswich until the end of the season, with discussions only having taken place in the last 24 hours.
The Tractor Boys have the option to make the move permanent at the end of the season and it appears Bakinson's long-term future at Ashton Gate is bleak after Pearson conceded the midfielder wants to play his football elsewhere.
When quizzed on if reports surrounding Bakinson's exit were accurate, Pearson said: "Yes. As far as I'm concerned, and I've said it before, if players don't want to be here they can go.
"I'm not bothered. He's a player who unfortunately just wants to play on his own terms. It's not something I particularly want so he can go.
"I'm not wasting energy on negativity, I don't invest time on that, I'm not just saying it. If you ask people who work with me they'll say exactly the same thing, I don't waste energy on negativity, it drives me mad.
"If people aren't in the side, I want them to work hard to get there and I want people who are in the side to work hard to stay there. I don't want people that when the going gets tough, they want to go somewhere else, I'm not interested.
"The fact that I am prepared to say, 'yeah, let the deal go ahead' because actually, people around the place who sap the energy out of other people is not as valuable as having people here who want to be playing."
Bakinson has featured 13 times in the Championship this season, 10 of those coming as starts with his last in the 1-0 victory over Derby on December 4. He did emerge as a second-half substitute against Fulham last Saturday having been out prior to that with Covid-19.
The club activated a 12-month option in his contract until 2023 in late November but, as Pearson has previously alluded to, it covers their back if they wanted to sell him for a transfer fee instead of losing him for nothing.
Pearson has clearly stated that City may have to adopt a one-in-one-out policy during this window because financial resources are minimal with the need to reduce the wage bill. Although he confirmed that's not necessarily the case with Bakinson because the player isn't one of the top earners on the books.
"He's not really a high earner, so that's not something that is particularly high on the agenda with this one," Pearson added. "As I've said before, I would rather run with the players I have than have players who don't want to be here or get added numbers in just for the sake of it.
"It would be good to get one player in, two maybe. It could be that something happens later in this window but I'm not promising anything."
Bakinson's departure does leave the Robins a little short of central midfield options with Matty James, Andy King, Joe Williams and Han-Noah Massengo the senior options in the middle of the park.
He added: "Clearly, we are short in defensive positions. (Bakinson) only happened last night. Hopefully Matty James is back relatively soon and Joe Williams is back, so it (the midfield) is not as high priority as other areas."
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