Bristol City are said to be comfortable and confident around Reuben McAllister’s situation at Ashton Gate as noise around the teenager has risen to significant levels over the last 48 hours.
Over three articles from three separate publications - Bristol World, The Sun and Football Insider - the 16-year-old attacking midfielder has been linked with four Premier League clubs - Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City - plus Scottish giants Rangers and Celtic.
All are reported to have either watched the teenager, are monitoring his situation or been “made aware” of his talent. Bristol Live understands that City have not received a single bid for McAllister nor even an enquiry for the teenager, but that also doesn’t tell the full story.
McAllister was a notable inclusion in Ali Hines’ City Under-23 squad last October, as the Young Robins lost 2-0 against QPR at Ashton Gate. Aged just 15, he made a notable impression in the 20 minutes he was on the field, impressing with his efficiency in possession, positional discipline and how he carried himself alongside players some five years his senior - which, at that age, is some physical jump.
McAllister is on a two-year scholar’s contract meaning that the Robins are in full control of his situation, with a very specific pathway mapped out for his progress at the club. There could, for example, be further U23 appearances over 2022/23, should he impress in that environment, he could even be invited to train with the first-team. But a place in Nigel Pearson’s senior squad is still some way off, as it should be in such an early stage of his development.
Should any club genuinely want to sign him, they will have to go through the appropriate channels and there is a clear and defined price that will have to be met to enable such a deal. The Robins are said to be relaxed and also slightly bemused about why this sudden attention has erupted.
It’s not due to father Jamie McAllister no longer being at City. The much-admired former left-back and assistant head coach left Ashton Gate in the summer of 2020 along with Lee Johnson, following him to Sunderland and now Hibernian as part of his coaching staff.
The McAllister family home, however, remains in Bristol, such are the personal uncertainties in football, and Jamie's wife Ashleigh, Reuben and their other children are still based here, with the 44-year-old flying back - there is a direct route from Edinburgh - on days off. The situation is exactly the same with Johnson, who in an interview with the BBC this weekend, revealed his daughter is still at school in Bristol.
In short, there is no geographical motivation for Reuben McAllister leaving the City academy. The genesis of all this most likely lies in the fact that he has recently been signed up by the CAA Base football agency.
Base are one of the biggest group of intermediaries in the country, and most likely the world, counting Tottenham’s Heung-min Son, Leicester City’s James Maddison, and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane, among their hundreds of clients, as well as City defender George Tanner.
It’s a prestigious stable for McAllister to be part of and, on a purely cosmetic basis, is representative of the level of his talent and potential. A short statement tweeted out by a number of their agents on Saturday read: “Delighted to welcome midfielder Reuben McAllister of Bristol City to the CAA Base family and look forward to working with him moving forward.”
Quite simply part of the sales pitch to the McAllister family would have been their ability to grow Reuben’s profile and increase exposure to the potential of playing Premier League football one day. That’s a sentence that may not sit comfortably with many City fans, but is just part of the business. Ultimately, he may be just starting out in his career but will have hopes and dreams beyond just making his first-team breakthrough one day - he is a teenager, after all.
None of this is to say that McAllister is seeking a move away, nor that his family think Ashton Gate is the best place at the moment for his development, it’s just a part of how the football game is, and quite simply what agencies do. Their MO is to do the absolute best by their clients, in a sporting and monetary sense. Sometimes those worlds don’t always match, admittedly, but their loyalty is to the player, not the clubs.
That, of course, opens up a familiar debate about agents, and certainly there are good ones and bad ones, but it’s also not binary - there is a sliding scale. And they do, as uncomfortable as it may seem, provide a valuable service protecting footballers, particularly young ones, from being exploited and under-paid by (some) unscrupulous clubs, plus help deal with a player's personal situation and legal documentation. Without them, there would be chaos.
Returning to McAllister’s situation, it would seem - based on what’s been printed and the lack of tangible evidence from the City end at this stage - that a lot of this is essentially a kind of welcoming present to greet McAllister’s arrival to the company, to show him what’s possible if he knuckles down and works hard.
That’s not to say it could be serious further down the line, Premier League clubs are investing heavily in acquiring academy talent. Aston Villa are very much active in the area, having paid significant six-figure fees last year to sign wingers Kyrie Pierre and Bradley Burrowes from Bristol Rovers' academy.
But the ball is very much in City’s court: McAllister is their player, is under contract - albeit not a professional deal - and the pathway from academy to first-team has been very much evidenced over the last 18 months - if you impress at Under-23 level, you’re not far off being in the Championship conversation.
Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo, Ayman Benarous, Sam Bell, Ryley Towler, Tommy Conway, Saikou Janneh, Josh Owers, Duncan Idehen and Harvey Wiles-Richards are all testament to that. The rest, at the moment at least, is just noise.
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