Bristol City have rejected a transfer offer from Bournemouth for midfielder Alex Scott, Bristol Live understands, with the bid falling short of their £25million valuation. The Premier League club's opening approach is thought to be a guaranteed £15m with further add-ons.
Scott has been the subject of interest from the Cherries for more than a year, with head of recruitment Richard Hughes a huge admirer of the England Under-20 international who was both City’s Player of the Year and the Championship Young Player of the Year.
An enquiry was made in January but the south coast club felt their situation at the time, as they were embroiled in a relegation battle, coupled with the price the Robins quoted, didn’t make financial sense to make an approach.
However, with the summer a chance for a reset in terms of their ambitions and with a new head coach in charge in Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth have made the first move for the 19-year-old.
It remains to be seen whether the Premier League club will return with a second offer but it would seem likely and has echoes of their successful pursuit of Antoine Semenyo at the start of the year whereby City rejected two offers before a compromise was reached with a third.
The difference between those two situations was that Semenyo had 18 months remaining on his contract so there was a degree of pressure on the Robins to maximise his value as the window drew to a close.
Scott still has two years left remaining on his agreement, giving City greater security to remain steadfast in their expectations for the Guernsey-born midfielder, who has made 91 appearances since making his debut two years ago.
City know there are other top-flight clubs monitoring the situation, most notably Wolves, Newcastle United, West Ham and Brighton & Hove Albion, although the Seagulls’ interest has cooled due to the asking price.
City do have a recent history of dealing with Bournemouth with the sale of Semenyo preceded by the Cherries’ purchase of Lloyd Kelly in the summer of 2019 for an initial £13m plus substantial add-ons.
Following Bill Foley’s takeover at the end of last year, Bournemouth possess significant spending power and do not seem quite as hamstrung with Financial Fair Play as some of their mid to lower table rivals.
So far this summer they have concluded the £20m signing of Hamed Traore from Sassuolo, having initially taken the Ivorian on loan, and purchased forward Justin Kluivert from Roma for an initial fee of £9.5m.
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