Joey Barton expects Bristol Rovers to receive transfer offers for star striker Aaron Collins at the end of the season as he believes retaining the Welshman for the remainder of the 2022/23 campaign was one of the major plus points of the January window.
Collins has enjoyed an exceptional debut season in League One with 14 goals and 10 assists in 28 appearances, improving on his outstanding campaign for the Gas in League Two. Understandably that has brought a significant number of scouts to the Mem and whichever venue Rovers should be playing at, as the secret is very much out in terms of Collins’ qualities, not just as a goalscorer but also a creator.
Barton told BBC Radio Bristol that Rovers didn’t receive any bids for the 25-year-old last month but is well aware what is likely to happen should Collins continue his form against the backdrop of such a volume of interest, with conversations to be had at the end of the season.
Collins signed a new three-year contract last summer and has outlined why he feels Rovers is the best place for his development having signed him from Forest Green Rovers in summer 2021, bringing him back to BS7 after his early days in the academy.
“We didn’t get anything concrete, and we weren’t expecting it,” Barton said of Collins. “We know there’s a lot of interest in him and we expect that to materialise in the summer.
“Azza doesn’t want to go either; he’s such a good lad, he feels this is the best place for his career. He’s someone who’s come up through the club, he’s aware of the support he has from the fanbase. He’s climbed lampposts on Gloucester Road - he has a connection with the club, and he feels in the summer there’ll be conversations, no doubt, about what the next step for him is.
"At this moment in time, this is the best place for him and I’m really pleased because it would have been tough to find a replacement for Aaron in the January market, if not nigh on impossible.”
Although Barton graded Rovers’ work in the window as a 5/10 with some of their loan targets heading elsewhere and the Gas failing to bring Connor Taylor back from Stoke City, retaining Collins and strike partner Josh Coburn, on hire from Middlesbrough, can be considered a success.
As Barton admitted, while Boro may have stated they wanted Coburn to remain in north Bristol, until the January 31 deadline had passed, they could never be absolutely sure, given injuries or changes in the market the Championship club may have experienced.
“Keeping hold of our strikeforce was going to be key and thankfully we’ve managed to navigate it without losing Josh to his parent club or Azza to someone further up the food chain,” Barton added.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, first-team coach Andy Mangan quipped that Collins could be worth up to £10m this summer should he continue his attacking numbers which should also lead to international recognition.
“I think Azza’s been solely focused on performing for Bristol Rovers. He’s a top player as everyone knows, everyone already knows the numbers,” Mangan said. “His goal involvements, I think he’s number one or number two in the country so everyone’s going to be after Aaron Collins and they should be. Everyone has got scouting departments, everyone knows he’s got fire in both feet.
"He can run like the wind, he gets hold of the ball, he picks the ball up in lovely areas and he can assist. He’s got fourteen goals and twelve assists, the most in any league so listen Aaron Collins is a fantastic footballer there is an awful lot of football clubs interested in him.
"Because we’ve got such a good owner and CEO we don’t have to sell Aaron, so he can help us until the end of the season and then hopefully he can go and make his international debut and we can sell him for £10million.”
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