Bristol City are among four Championship clubs interested in Notts County striker Macaulay Langstaff, according to reports.
The 25-year-old frontman is the joint top scorer in all four divisions of English football with 18 goals in 20 league appearances, level with Manchester City's Erling Haaland. Football Insider claim Cardiff City, Swansea City and Preston North End have also watched him in action this season.
Langstaff only joined County, managed by City's former Under-23 head coach Luke Williams, in the summer following his switch from Gateshead. He scored 32 goals for the National League North side last season.
Notts County owners Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz were forced to address Langstaff's future past January earlier this month in the wake of his impressive form. They refused to rule out his departure but insisted it would only take an extraordinary offer for them to cash in as he currently has a contract until 2024.
Reported by Nottinghamshire Live, they said: "We are expecting to finish the season with the players we currently have. He is not for sale, but in football, you can never rule out anything if there is an extraordinary offer, but we are not expecting to sell anyone this January."
That's likely to prove an issue for City with manager Nigel Pearson previously admitting they won't have the cash to spend unless a player leaves. Even if that's the case, the Robins will prioritise signing a central defender.
City are also already well stocked in the attacking department but that could change by the end of the season. Nahki Wells and Chris Martin are out of contract and given the former's high wages and the latter's lack of game time, it seems inevitable both will leave.
There's also the uncertainty over Antoine Semenyo's future. With the one-year option in his contract, he is effectively committed to City until 2024 but the club may have to let him leave this summer to avoid losing him for nothing with Rangers reportedly interested.
That leaves Andi Weimann, Tommy Conway and Sam Bell so it will be an area that the club will need to address looking into the future. Before the World Cup break, Pearson admitted they will use the time to prepare for the January transfer window.
The City manager, who signed Jamie Vardy from the non-league during his time at Leicester, said: "It’s going to be an important time for us to prepare for the next window depending on whether we can or can’t do business. We’ve still got to do the groundwork on that, if we do business, I will want to do it immediately.
“I don’t want to do it at the end of January because it’s a waste of time and we’ll have wasted a month. If we do have aspirations to bring people in it makes sense to do it as early as possible. This build-up to the World Cup break or just until the window opens is always very important."
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