Bristol City are unlikely to break their transfer record any time soon as the indulgence of previous Championship seasons have been replaced with the very harsh realities of a post-Covid financial landscape.
The fees and wages of just a few seasons ago are now only really reserved for only those in their first season of parachute payments and average salaries across the division are having to be brought down, to fall in line with EFL regulations but also, quite simply, to survive.
Nigel Pearson isn’t expecting to be spending much, if any, money this summer. A prediction that is caveated by outgoings who could make money available but, even then, City’s spend is likely to be modest and sensible, akin to the £1.6m paid for Rob Atkinson last summer.
That fee places the defender 19th in terms of City’s all-time buys, in between Taylor Moore and Jack Hunt, perhaps further evidence of just how much the market has changed. Some might even say, for the better.
With the summer transfer window opening once again on Friday, we took a look at City’s all-time top 10 transfers to review whether they can be considered a boom or bust, based on what was spent and the impact they’ve made.
We’ve used Transfermarkt’s data as a standardised way of ranking the fees but there are invariably discrepancies into what was reported or considered and what the reality is, but we have to start somewhere…
Tomas Kalas - £8.1m (from Chelsea, 2019)
We’ll start with a disclaimer - this is a tricky one to assess and needs considerable context applied before we can reach a reasonable conclusion which, even then, probably isn't definitive one way or the other.
It’s almost three years since the big Czech was pictured clad in black, atop the Ashton Gate roof, in what was a huge statement of intent by the club after falling four points short of the play-offs just seven weeks earlier.
Following that near miss, this was the summer City were going for it and here was an elite Championship defender in the building, on an extensive contract, for a club record fee, and teams in Europe turned down in favour of the Robins. It was a big deal.
Since signing, Kalas has made 98 Championship appearances and bar an injury-hit first half to the 2019/20 campaign and towards the end of last season, has mostly been fit, available and, on an individual basis, his performance-levels have been at the higher end of the scale.
He’s had some outstanding performances, the odd stinker (away at Millwall in 2021 probably stands out), but you rarely come away from a game thinking the 29-year-old has played poorly.
However, here are two significant rubs: he has been a major part of the Championship's third worst defence in each of the last two Championship seasons. That makes it incredibly hard to judge his own personal contribution when, as a collective, City have evidently gotten worse as a defensive team.
Secondly, that transfer fee in 2019 was significant, and while his wages were high, they weren’t at the level of other star players in the division. However, the economy of the division has altered to such an extent that, when placed in a modern context, they appear almost reckless. Although, at the time when he signed, they made perfect sense.
And that’s the trouble when grading Kalas; on the one hand he’s been fundamentally good, but on the other he’s not been value for money and, when it comes to the transfer market, perhaps that is what really counts - BUST
Han-Noah Massengo - £7.2m (from Monaco, 2019)
First things first, we’re going to have to dispute the size of that fee because it’s likely based on all the obligations of the deal being met in terms of clauses and while some appearances-based ones undoubtedly have - Massengo is 107 games deep into his City career - it’s not enough to get the initial £2.7m up to that figure.
That’s important because what transpires over the next few weeks could well determine whether the Frenchman can be considered a quantifiable success in a red shirt. As he enters the final 12 months of his contract, and with little indication he’s signing a new one, all the signs point towards his tearful farewell at Huddersfield Town being the last time he’s seen in a City shirt.
What could therefore decide his impact at City could be as straightforward as how much the Robins can get for him in the market; for example, should it be somewhere towards or north of £5m, you’d consider that three years well spent. Anything lower than his original fee, and you’re starting to waver.
But this is all rather un-romantic and a little cold because there’s been lots to like about Massengo; his development has been fun to observe, he’s had good games and bad games but he’s always watchable. And when he’s good, it’s a genuine pleasure to see him on a football field.
He’s also been an enormously popular and unifying personality for the fanbase, during what has been some pretty unremarkable times. It may not seem important but he’s brought colour and life to some drab occasions, plus that song often gets Section 82 going.
It’s just a shame it seems to be ending because one or two more years of Massengo would likely see him rise to a higher level (he is still only 20) and should he depart, as expected, this summer, we’ll all be left with a feeling that City only really scratched the surface - BOOM
Famara Diedhiou - £5.4m (from Angers, 2017)
There are thematic similarities between Massengo and Diedhiou which will get out of the way early on. Few players have been as popular among supporters than Fam, and over the course of the four years he was at the club, he brought a sense of familiarity (pun not intended) and identity as other dressing room personalities came and went with such regularity.
He undoubtedly had his critics - to some he almost single-handedly held City back from being a top-six attacking side - but time has been kind on his legacy at Ashton Gate and it speaks for how beloved he is that, even with the uncomfortable situation regarding his final 12 months at the club - he wanted far too much money and all-but downed tools towards the end - he’s still very much appreciated.
To look at it in a raw sense, much like Kalas, did City’s then-record signing elevate them into a position where they could become a promotion team - no, because his goal tally over the four seasons - 14, 13, 14 and 10 - while consistent was never quite enough.
But that’s also probably misunderstanding his importance as a striker and, more specifically, a No9 in Lee Johnson’s system. Diedhiou was there to score but also help make his teammates better; taking hits, winning headers and drawing fouls plus being a positional focal point and handy defensive presence on opposition set-pieces.
His durability is also an underrated aspect of his time in BS3. He averaged 42.2 appearances a season and was nearly always available, outside of suspension and a few niggly injuries.
Those final six months are a shame, as is the fact that City never recouped anything for their investment in him over the four years but in terms of output coupled with less tangible qualities, he has to be considered a success - BOOM
Nahki Wells - £4.2m (from Burnley, 2020)
It’s unclear exactly when the p-word fully entered the City lexicon when it came to transfer windows but it has to be sometime between Diedhiou’s first season and January 2020. Every six months the desire for a “proven” Championship striker would be the cry from supporters as the missing play-off piece for City was that guaranteed (and often mythical) 20-goal frontman who could invert a 9th-placed finish into a 6th.
Britt Assombalonga, Scott Hogan, Dwight Gayle and Matej Vydra were the usual desired suspects but as a new decade began, the Robins finally landed one with a forward who was in the midst of an unbelievable campaign for QPR, on loan from Burnley.
Nahki Wells’ Championship goalscoring record up to the 2019/20 season had always been good but never at elite level, however the Bermudian had struck gold for the Rs as he had hit the target 13 times in 26 games before moving to the West Country.
Now, the concept of being a proven goalscorer, given his previous average per season was 13.8 - including time in League One and League Two with Bradford City - is open to interpretation but Wells was much more than a finisher, unquestionably a proven high-level Championship player. But it’s perhaps this mis-identification that lies behind his frustratingly underwhelming time at City.
Quite simply, the player the Robins signed him to be, isn’t the player he is and that may or may not have informed how badly used he’s been over his two-and-half seasons at the club.
His initial spell alongside Diedhiou showed promise only for the pandemic to disrupt momentum and with Johnson sacked, Dean Holden’s fresh pair of eyes increasingly shunted Wells out to the left where he was effective to a point - he did finish 2020/21 as City’s top scorer with 11 in all competitions - but not how was initially envisaged, nor what that level of fee was supposedly spent on.
Last season saw him fall to third and then four-choice, a position in the hierarchy not befitting of an individual of his quality and although Nigel Pearson says he wants him to stay, will Wells be content with seven Championship starts again? It’s unlikely.
But should he leave this summer or next, at 32, City won’t recoup much or anything of that transfer fee, meaning more than £6m in fees and wages has been spent on several years of trying to work out where and what sort of role he should play. That’s not a situation you want to be in when it comes to your fourth-most expensive signing - BUST
Nathan Baker - £3.9m (from Aston Villa, 2017)
The last remaining senior figure from City’s 2017/18 squad which threatened to storm into the Premier League only to be crushed under the weight of their own self-made expectation and a squad running on fumes and an unsuccessful attempt made to correct the fallibilities in January.
The argument around Baker is another complicated one, or maybe it isn’t. Because once you start prefixing a discussion with “what if” then that almost immediately counts against the point you’re about to make, at least in the context of sizeable transfer fees.
It’s impossible not to talk about Baker without a lengthy consideration of the volume of injuries he has suffered and how that’s held him back from being consistent in selection, compared with, say, Tomas Kalas or Famara Diedhiou on this list.
And when you pay good money for a player, you want them on the pitch as much as possible. Baker’s average starts over his five seasons at the club have been 18.8 and, especially as a defender, that’s nowhere near high enough, before you consider that of his 94 starts, he’s not completed 90 minutes on 15 occasions (admittedly with a few tactical substitutions at play but it’s mostly through injury).
Good defensive teams are built on consistency and reliability; that latter word can mean performance, but is also linked to the first one because it’s hard to have a consistent defensive unit, if the personnel are changing all the time. In Baker’s case, his time out of the team have not been helpful.
That being said, when he has played, for the most part Baker has been really rather good; a tough-as-teak, old-style “British” centre-back who thunders into tackles and physical collisions. The sort of an individual who can raise the blood levels of fans inside Ashton Gate.
That approach has, of course, also been his Achilles Heel, as we’ve witnessed this season with his two concussions and as uncertainty reigns over his long-term football future, we can only hope for the best in terms of his overall health.
That’s a pretty harsh note to then pass a judgement on his time at City but there hasn’t been enough, sadly, in relation to that transfer fee to select anything other than a - BUST
Adam Webster - £3.6m (from Ipswich, 2018)
When it comes to economical upgrades and the sort of succession plans football executives dream about, selling Aden Flint for £7.5m and replacing him with a defender five years his junior, for half the fee who then became one of the best centre-backs in the division earning a £20m move 12 months later, has to be up there as one of the best.
Webster wasn’t exactly heralded as a home run when he arrived from Ipswich but very quickly it became clear that City had pulled off a real transfer coup as the Portsmouth academy graduate was classy in possession, a brutally good defender and also brought qualities in how the Robins brought the ball forward.
Named Player of the season after 47 pretty exemplary performances alongside Tomas Kalas, evidence of his influence was over the following nine months when he was never replaced and City looked the poorer for it, across a number of facets on the pitch.
Further proof has been how comfortable he’s looked in the Premier League and is now part of the England conversation with Qatar 2022 on the horizon and Gareth Southgate’s side not exactly blessed with obvious quality in the middle of defence. Webster at a World Cup would truly be a sight to see and a source of real pride.
Signing a player of such quality and impact for that size of fee really was an outstanding piece of business, even before you take into consideration what City sold him for. That £20m could be beaten over the next 12 months by Antoine Semenyo or Alex Scott but it’s huge for a Championship centre-back in what has been one of the undeniable success stories of the Lansdown transfer model - BOOM
Kasey Palmer - £3.4m (from Chelsea, 2019)
Of City’s 15 biggest buys, according to Transfermarkt, seven arrived over the course of the 2019/20 season - Kalas, Massengo, Wells, Jay Dasilva, Dan Bentley, Adam Nagy and Palmer.
All very good players but only three, maybe even two if you were being particularly critical, have delivered genuine value and that is partly why City find themselves in such a constricted financial state.
Palmer, of course, isn’t in that value group as his signing seemed strange at the time and has become even stranger over the years. Lee Johnson admitted he wanted the playmaker at the tail end of 2018/19 after an interesting but not wholly convincing loan spell.
However, the former head coach insisted he needed a full pre-season. Signed with just a week before the transfer window closed, and on the eve of the new campaign, that chance to work over pre-season had gone. He appeared a signing they could get, rather than they necessarily should.
That was ignored when Palmer made a fantastic start to 2019/20 in tandem with Benik Afobe, completely altering City’s attack and making them an open and unorthodox offensive side. But then misfortune befell Afobe in training and without his friend to feed with through-balls, Palmer became increasingly ineffective and peripheral.
Johnson never seemed to trust him, nor Dean Holden after recalling him from loan, while he’s about as far away from the conception of a Nigel Pearson-type footballer as you can, hence his dismal usage over the last nine months.
However, while it’s easy to point the finger at Palmer for this decline in relevance, he remains a supremely talented individual, and it’s a shame that successive coaches have been unable to unlock that ability to the betterment of Bristol City.
With a move to Coventry City approaching, saving the Robins paying the last 12 months of his salary but not earning anything in terms of a fee, it’s ultimately been a significant transfer failure but one that did seem doomed following the slightly curious circumstances in which he arrived three years ago - BUST
Lee Tomlin - £3.15m (from Bournemouth, 2016)
Now a professional wind-up merchant on social media, Tomlin was once entertainer-in-chief at Ashton Gate, possessing the sort of box office ability that sold tickets on its own, let alone scored outrageous goals and won enough points to fire the Robins to survival in 2015/16.
That loan spell, inevitably, convinced Johnson and City to bring Tomlin up from Dorset on a permanent basis and it was a transfer that made so much sense at the time but proved an inevitable mistake.
As several accounts of players have since testified to, having won his long-term contract and with premier player status ensured, Tomlin’s determination to reach those previous high levels diminished quickly as did his relationship with Johnson.
As Aaron Wilbraham told the Undr the Cosh podcast: “He's one of the best I played with. But when he got that new contract, he came in on the first day of pre-season in a brand new Bentley and Lee Johnson pulled him aside and said: 'You can't do that. Everyone knows you're the highest paid player, you don't have to come in in the best car'.
"He said he had to be an example to the young lads. (Tomlin) said: 'Gaffer, I'll let you do that in your old Range Rover.' He'd say it front of everyone.
“He was a heavy lad. He was at 22 per cent body fat and the gaffer wanted everyone at around seven or eight. But he was the best in training, the best at running, so why did he need to?
"We'd have these nutritionists in and we'd walk in the room with the geeky nutritionist stood at the front and on the big plasma screen it would have pictures of KitKats and cakes and crisps. Tommo would walk in the meeting knowing it was all aimed at him, so he'd say: 'Cor, that's making me feel hungry'.”
Fitness issues played their part, while Tomlin has also spoken of mental health struggles, but it was alarming how quickly the bar came down from where it had been set, to where it rested with his exit to Cardiff two years later following a loan at Cardiff City.
His only permanent season as a Bristol City player read: 38 appearances (30 as a starter), six goals and five assists and probably double figures headaches for all concerned. His departure in 2018 to Cardiff probably felt like a great release, for Johnson, for City and also for Tomlin. And that alone is damning of the transfer - BUST
Nicky Maynard - £3m (from Crewe Alexandra, 2008)
The originally reported fee for Maynard was £2.25m, so we can only assume Transfermarkt have taken the above figure to include the add-ons that were likely accrued given Maynard spent three-and-a-half seasons at Ashton Gate, scoring 46 goals in 131 games. Those very basic numbers alone are probably enough to say City got a decent enough return on their investment, although it's worthy of a little more exploration.
Signed in the wake of the play-off final defeat, the hope for Maynard was that he was to be the goalscorer lacking from the 2007/08 squad which reached fourth in the Championship despite Darren Byfield being their top scorer with eight - a remarkable achievement in itself.
It was a simple equation but Maynard's first season was a little patchy until he finally found his stride in the following campaign, hitting the magic 20-mark and widening his reputation around the country having made the step up from the lower leagues.
Now, this is where it gets a little nuanced because Maynard was at the peak of his powers and value but, equally, the club didn't want to sell their star man. So after an injury-hit 2010/11 campaign, sans Gary Johnson, bids for him were then rejected in the summer of 2011 - Leicester City being one - against the backdrop of his contract running down.
That then led to the messy saga where Maynard found himself persona non grate during the struggles of 2011/12, with some unsavoury moments, forcing a sale to West Ham in January and those comments about the Bristolian accent. It was a pretty uncomfortable end after a bright and positive start to his City career.
It also meant the Robins failed to extract much value out of what had been their prized asset, but granted that was with considerations about their own promotion ambitions and, of course, hindsight now dictates that the summer of 2010 or 2011 were the times when they should have taken the money. That all being said, for what he cost and that one season alone, it's enough to consider him a - BOOM
Jonathan Kodjia - £2.7m (from Angers, 2015)
Whereas Maynard was a relationship that went sour and unpleasant as it dragged on, Kodjia was a brief and intense affair that should leave nothing but happy memories for City fans, albeit in a season where they had to scrap for survival.
Signed from Angers as the Ligue 2 Player of the Season, he was the man to improve City's triumphant League One squad, it was a fine piece of business by the club. The Frenchman struck 20 in 48 games in what was mainly a struggling team, an impressive return only enhanced by the fact this was his first season in English football as he adapted to a new country, culture and style of play.
But Kodjia's pace, power and the elegance of his finishing and all-round forward technique made him an ideal Championship frontman and was one of a few bright sparks that term as the Cotterill era gave way to the age of Johnson.
Scoring that many goals for a team towards the nether regions of the Championship invariably meant interest would follow in the summer of 2016 and although loathed to lose his talent, securing an initial £11m sale to Aston Villa - more than three times their original outplay - plus additional clauses, and then effectively replacing him with Tammy Abraham (albeit on loan), was some deal.
If there's any regret, it's that it was only one season and how good he could have been over another nine months in red but, as the cautionary tale of Maynard and, to some extent Diedhiou, showed, sometimes it's best to cash in on your assets where their value is peaking. - BOOM
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