Brighton & Hove Albion are increasingly keen on making a move for Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott, Bristol Live understands, with the Seagulls having watched the 19-year-old in action for several months and placed him on their summer transfer shortlist.
There has been no offer for the England Under-20 international but Brighton could well look to steal a march on their Premier League rivals with Roberto De Zerbi and the club's recruitment team weighing up their options with a desire to get business done early.
The Seagulls have reportedly agreed a fee in the region of £30million for Watford forward Joao Pedro, and could continue to recruit from within the Championship for Scott. That figure for the 21-year-old Brazilian also represents a nice benchmark for negotiations from City’s perspective.
Nigel Pearson has previously stated that Scott is valued in excess of £25m as it would require “one hell of a bid” to prise him away from Ashton Gate with the teenager under contract until the summer of 2025.
Scott has made 47 appearances for City this season and was named the Championship Young Player of the Season last weekend as his reputation continues to grow to the point where it looks increasingly likely that Saturday’s clash at Ashton Gate will be his last appearance at the stadium.
When asked this week about Scott’s achievement and the message it sends to City’s youngsters, Pearson said: “What the young players have here is the potential of opportunity. That’s not unlimited, they can see players either in the team and the squad who have had opportunity.
“Whether they’re all capable of being Alex Scott, is a different question. Players need to aim to be as good as they can be.
“Certainly it’s good to be role models and Alex Scott is a player who epitomises what young players can do if they are switched on enough and dedicated enough. He’s had two outstanding seasons in the Championship and I hope he has another one.”
Brighton are not alone in coveting the Guernsey-born midfielder but they certainly represent a common sense move for Scott given their proven record of nurturing and developing talent through providing top-flight opportunities.
Unlike West Ham, Leicester City, Bournemouth, Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers who have been embroiled in a relegation battle and therefore unable to properly formulate transfer plans, while the turmoil and uncertainty at Tottenham Hotspur has held them back in that regard, Brighton’s relative security in the top-half and stability behind the scenes has permitted them greater time to plot their strategy.
Scott’s next step has consistently been driven by a desire to play regular first-team minutes, as opposed to moving into an Under-21 set-up, however prestigious. He can look to the examples this season of young quartet Evan Ferguson, Jeremy Sarmiento, Facundo Buonanotte and Julio Enciso, all who have enjoyed game time.
Should the situation develop, Brighton could well be the club to break City’s transfer record for a second time having purchased Adam Webster from the Robins in the summer of 2019 for £20m.
On that occasion, the Seagulls had been conducting their due diligence on the centre-back for several months before making a formal approach amid wide and varied interest in his signature.
However, unlike the Webster situation which was concluded just over 24 hours before the 2019/20 season kicked off and with five days of the transfer window remaining which impacted their ability to sign a replacement, City's preference would to have a decisive yes or no on Scott's future as early as possible.
It would avoid complications heading into the summer and also ensure them with suitable capital to spend themselves in reinforcing their own squad with Pearson keen to conduct the majority of his business in the opening stages of the window, as proved the case 12 months ago with the arrivals of Kal Naismith, Kane Wilson and Mark Sykes.
City remain in talks with Aberdeen over signing versatile midfielder Ross McCrorie while they would also like to conclude deals for two January targets they were unable to land in AFC Wimbledon left-back Jack Currie and Crystal Palace centre-back Jake O'Brien.
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