Few incomings but it’s been a summer of change at City
THE international break means we will have to wait at least another week to receive Nigel Pearson’s analysis of the summer transfer window; how and why Bristol City were unable to sign a striker, and even to what extent they tried to bring one in before Tuesday’s deadline.
However, what is clear without the input of the Robins manager is that with minimal business into the club, it’s been three months of considerable change at Ashton Gate with a number of well-established individuals departing the club.
That has coincided with four new additions (five, if you count the re-signing of Nathan Baker) which does fall one short of the quintet originally desired by Pearson when he appeared on Robins TV for a summer update at the start of June.
True to form, Pearson has kept things straightforward with two players he knows well, and two he and City fans weren’t so familiar with but who could prove to be the bedrock of this City team moving forward as the manager begins his three-year plan in BS3.
In total, City signed four players and sanctioned the permanent and temporary exits of 19, either by releasing them, sales or loans; one major change in the window for the club as during the Mark Ashton-era, City’s loanees would regularly be well into double figures.
This summer, the number of players on hire to the EFL, non-League and the SPFL is a relatively modest five and Taylor Moore’s move to Hearts increasingly appears as a forerunner to a permanent switch for the defender.
Instead, Pearson wants City’s clutch of young talent - Sam Bell, Sam Pearson, Tommy Conway, Ryley Towler and Louis Britton - to develop their trade at the Robins High Performance Centre on his watch and follow the pathway of Alex Scott and Zak Vyner; academy products who can now be considered firstteam regulars.
Incomings: Matty James (free)Andy King , (free), Rob Atkinson (Oxford United, £1.6million), George Tanner (Carlisle United, £300,000).
Outgoings: Hakeeb Adelakun (released, joined Lincoln), Aden Baldwin (released, joined MK Dons), Famara Diedhiou (released, joined Alanyaspor), Opi Edwards (released, joined Forest Green), Owura Edward (loan, Exeter City), Marlee Francois (loan, Bath City), Rene Gilmartin (released), Prince Henry (loan, Hungerford Town), Jack Hunt (released, joined Sheffield Wednesday), Henri Lansbury (released, joined Luton Town), Joe Low (loan, Eastleigh), Adrian Mariappa (released), Taylor Moore (loan, Hearts), George Nurse (undisclosed, Shrewsbury), Jamie Paterson (released, joined Swansea), Tommy Rowe (released, joined Doncaster Rovers), Liam Walsh (released, joined Swansea City), Marley Watkins (released, joined Aberdeen), Jojo Wollacott (rree, Swindon Town).