Sam Bell has stated his ambitions to help fire Bristol City to the Premier League after signing a new three-year contract at the club until the summer of 2025.
The new deal comes less than a week after his academy strike partner Tommy Conway also signed a similar deal with the Robins keen on keeping their top talent in the ranks for the foreseeable future.
Academy Director Brian Tinnion previously spoke about how the talented duo are likely to be City's first-team front pairing in years to come having developed and grown together throughout the youth ranks. Bell joined BS3 at the age of 12 after he was scouted playing in a tournament for local side Nailsea United.
Bell's new deal comes just over a year since he signed a three-year contract until the summer of 2024. Putting pen-to-paper yet again only highlights how highly the club and manager rate the young striker as he prepares for a big future at Ashton Gate.
He made his Robins debut against Birmingham City in December 2020 and last season made three league starts and a further two substitute appearances with manager Nigel Pearson keen to offer the starlet game time to bolster his senior experience.
Bell will have short-term ambitions of looking to earn more first-team minutes this time around but in the long-term, he has lofty plans to help push the club onto the next level. Speaking to City's Robins TV channel, Bell said: "I’m really buzzing to be signing a new three-year deal, it’s what I’ve been working hard to achieve so I’m really pleased to put pen to paper.
“It means the world. I grew up playing through all the age groups, going to watch first team games, thinking ‘that’s where I want to be’ and to achieve that and be here for another three years. Hopefully, there’s more to come.
"When you take a step back and think wow I'm actually here as part of the first team squad. Obviously, it's something I wanted to do all of my life so I'm really happy to be a part of it.
"I want to get the club to where it needs to be in the Premier League, it's ready for it we just need to kick on and take that extra step and hopefully I get to be a part of it, score some goals and get us there. As a local lad, this is something you dream of as a kid, to play professionally for a club that is only 10 minutes up the road from you, it’s want you want.”
Tinnion admitted at the beginning of the summer that Bell or Conway could be sent out on loan this season to give the pair a regular run of senior minutes. That could mean one of them stays to provide depth in the senior squad while the other leaves temporarily before the pair alternate in January.
However, manager Pearson is reluctant to send his youngsters out on loan as it stands while his squad remains on the thin side ahead of the new season.
He said after Saturday's win over Bournemouth: "We haven’t got any other players. The players that you have seen today are in the squad.
"You have to understand that there will be players we might put out on loan this year but we can’t afford to let any of these players go at the moment."
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