Nigel Pearson insists any midfielders signed this summer are to complement Alex Scott, not replace him, with Bristol City continuing to work on the concept of the teenager remaining at Ashton Gate for the 2023/24 season.
Scott’s position at the club remains a source of significant speculation with numerous Premier League clubs, and even Champions League finalists Internazionale, linked with the 19-year-old who was named the Championship’s Young Player of the Year and has amassed 91 appearances for the Robins and been a regular for England at Under-19 and U20 level.
With two years remaining on his contract in BS3, City have a degree of security and subsequently can, to an extent, name their price for the Guernsey-born star with Pearson and owner Steve Lansdown previously quoting £25m as a guide as to their value.
Such a sale would equip City with considerable financial strength to sign replacements, with the Robins having two bids turned down for Derby County’s Jason Knight this month, with the second worth £1.6m. However, speaking at the High Performance Centre on Monday, Pearson wants to strengthen his midfield without the caveat of Scott having to move on.
“Everybody seems keen to write Alex Scott off as being gone,” Pearson said. “If we sign somebody in that area, we’re not replacing Alex Scott. Let me be absolutely crystal clear on that from my own perspective, anybody that we are either interested in or trying to sign or looking at in midfield is not to make room for then Alex Scott going, that’s not what we’re doing.”
As will be the case throughout the summer, Pearson’s first press conference of pre-season contained questions around Scott’s position which, despite the increasing noise beyond the HPC, remains the same.
A narrative seems to be being built whereby Premier League clubs feel City are over-pricing their star asset and as the window develops they may consider lowering their price, still aware it could be a sizeable fee.
Pearson has spoken of needing to be flexible in the market but the messaging around Scott hasn’t changed - from last summer through to now - there is an internal valuation and until that is met, he will remain part of his squad.
Scott wasn’t present on the first day of pre-season in Failand, due to the volume of games he’s played over the last 12 months for club and country, but alongside Tommy Conway will join the rest of the squad on Saturday in preparation for their training camp in Austria.
“I expect him to be here, and he’ll be here,” Pearson added. “That’s how I approach the situation.
“When you’ve got players who are potentially on clubs' wishlists, I think that’s a very positive thing for us because we’ve got good players and he won’t be the only one. We’ve got a number of players who I think would be attractive to many clubs. Them being available, we’re not in a hurry to sell anybody, that’s the bottom line.
“I think there is always going to be speculation about somebody with his amount of talent, and we know a number of Premier League clubs have been monitoring him, so what? No one has yet put a bid in, and in all honesty, if they do, I’m a football manager, that’s up to the powers that be here to make that decision as to whether it’s an acceptable deal or not.
“Even then I think our owners are very keen for us to try and keep our best players because if we have a successful season and get promoted we’ve got a much better chance of keeping our best players.
“You can’t ever rule anything in or out, and I don’t wake up every day thinking about things like that. For me, all I need to know when something happens, apart from that, he’s our player, he’s here, and I’m looking forward to him playing for us again this season, simple as that.”
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