The Robins signed Rob Dickie earlier in the summer and they have now set their sights on Chris Willock
Bristol City’s transfer business could step up a level in the final couple of weeks of the transfer window thanks to the £25 million sale of teenager Alex Scott to Bournemouth.
The 19-year-old was one of the hottest properties in the EFL but when the Cherries met the valuation of the Robins hierarchy last week, he was reluctantly allowed to move on to pastures new.
City have always normally re-invested the money they get from big-money sales, but they had already landed some impressive permanent signings earlier on in the transfer window, with Rob Dickie, Jason Knight and Ross McCrorie just a handful of the names arriving of Ashton Gate.
In terms of Dickie, his arrival from Queens Park Rangers was somewhat of a shrewd move despite inconsistent form for the R’s last season, and now Nigel Pearson is seemingly plotting another raid on City’s Championship rivals.
FLW has been exclusively informed by sources that QPR winger Chris Willock is on the radar of the Bristol City transfer team before the end of the transfer window on September 1.
The 25-year-old had an electric start to the 2022-23 season where he scored six times in nine appearances, but he missed two periods of the campaign through injury and was then not particularly fancied by Gareth Ainsworth when he was appointed to replace Neil Critchley in the dugout.
Willock was not in the squad to face Cardiff City this past weekend and with Tommy Conway suffering a hamstring injury at Bristol City, it could mean that youngster Sam Bell is needed to play through the middle.
And that in-turn would create a vacancy on the left flank to compete with Anis Mehmeti – there is a stumbling block already though which could prevent a deal from being finalised.
According to FLW’s sources, there could be an issue with meeting Willock’s wage demands, but City remain interested in doing a deal for the tricky winger.
What is Chris Willock’s contract situation at QPR?
Willock is into the final 12 months of his deal at Loftus Road, and with head coach Gareth Ainsworth not having much of a transfer budget this summer, it appears that the hierarchy would benefit from selling the winger instead of letting him go for nothing next summer.
It remains to be seen what kind of fee that the Hoops would want for Willock’s services, but following Conway’s injury and the knock-on effect it may have from needing Bell to play through the middle, the ex-Arsenal man would be an ideal target to compete with Anis Mehmeti for a starting spot on the left flank.
What has Nigel Pearson said on Bristol City’s potential transfer business?
Even though the Robins have banked an eight-figure sum for Scott, it doesn’t look as though they will be going out and doing what Coventry have done and re-investing all their money.
Whilst there will be moves made, Pearson already made the financial picture very clear even before Scott’s departure that there was little room to manouevre when it comes to offering out wages for new signings.
“I’ve already been informed our wage bill will be topped out,” Pearson said at the start of August on BBC Radio Bristol, per BristolWorld.
“As far as I am concerned, we’ve made a statement as a club and we’ve got ourselves into a decent position financially in terms of where we are. We’ve built a squad based on what our physical but our financial restraints are.
“All those things together mean we’re in a pretty good place, and we’ll be stronger if we keep Alex in. If he does go, as I say, if people think there’s lots of money to spend then that’s not the case.”
