Nigel Pearson has revealed that contract talks are ongoing with Zak Vyner as the centre-back is one of just “two or three players” whose future at Bristol City beyond this summer is yet to be decided.
Vyner’s present deal expires at the end of the season but the Robins do hold a one-year option in his agreement to safeguard them against the defender departing on a free transfer, however the club want to extend his terms over a longer period of time.
The 25-year-old academy product has started 38 of City’s 39 Championship games and showed notable progression from his previous seasons under Pearson where his performances had been blighted by unforced errors.
Vyner is one of the leading contenders to be named Robins Player of the Year next month but there is a clear will from the manager to keep hold of the Bath-born centre-back and for him to follow goalkeeper and close friend Max O’Leary, striker Nahki Wells and defender George Tanner is signing a new long-term deal.
“Not any official updates, no,” Pearson said of Vyner’s situation. “Those discussions are ongoing. Zak has had a really great season for us. I understand there’s speculation but he’s a player we would like to keep.”
Vyner is one of five first-team regulars who are out of contract this summer, along with fellow defenders Tomas Kalas and Jay Dasilva and midfielders Andy King and Han-Noah Massengo.
Decisions will also need to be made on young midfielders Josh Owers and James Morton, winger Owura Edwards, who has spent the season on loan in Scotland at Ross County and Taylor Moore, who also has an option in his deal but looks likely to leave Ashton Gate having impressed during his loan at Shrewsbury Town.
Pearson’s two previous years at City have been punctuated by a host of first-team players being out of contract entering the final stages of the campaign which has had a detrimental impact on performances and dressing room chemistry, most notably in the 2020/21 season.
However, with Dan Bentley’s sale to Wolves in January, veterans Chris Martin and Timm Klose released and Massengo loaned to Auxerre to cover the final six months of his salary and set him up for a likely return to France, the vast majority of the decision-making has been made already.
Kalas’ future will be determined by whether the Czech Republic international can return from his latest injury set-back, prove his fitness and then come to an agreement on a deal that would likely represent a significant pay cut. King’s future increasingly looks as part of Pearson’s coaching staff but the 34-year-old has still played a part for the first-team this term, making 19 appearances at times of injuries and suspensions in midfield and defence.
Dasilva is perhaps the only individual with considerable conjecture around his future given he nearly left the club in January for Coventry City, only for the Robins to fail in their pursuit of AFC Wimbledon’s Jack Currie.
That would indicate the 24-year-old will be released in June, and then likely join the Sky Blues but Dasilva has still proven a useful squad member, making 30 Championship appearances at left-back and left wing-back, but like several long-term servants before him, both he and Pearson may feel the time is right to move on.
“There's only question marks over two or three players,” Pearson added. “Discussions are ongoing, outside of that this will be the first summer since I've been here that we've not got a lot of players out of contract so I would expect this summer to be more of a positive summer in terms of us adding to what we've already got rather than replacing departures, for want of a better term.”
City travel to Stoke City on Good Friday for an encounter against one of the Championship’s form teams with the Potters having won three and drawn two, giving rise to the theory that with a 10-point deficit to make up, Alex Neil’s side could make an improbable but still mathematically possible run into the play-off conversation.
That was true of City up to the end of February before a raft of injuries led to an indifferent run of form, with just one win from their six. Saturday’s 1-1 draw with struggling Reading was a game in which they really could and should have won and, to some, spoke of a typical late-season performance.
However, for all the optimism around Stoke, they are only two points above City and although the top six does look a bridge too far for Pearson’s squad, with the manager missing Kalas, Kal Naismith and Alex Scott plus Joe Williams and Rob Atkinson for the Easter programme, he insists there are less tangible goals to play for.
“This summer will be important but players have got plenty to play for,” Pearson said. “If they don't think so, then they won't play quite frankly. It's quite straightforward as far as I'm concerned.
“There's no such thing as a dead rubber. In my mind, there's always something that matters and firstly we want to finish the season well because if we can't make any further progression this year then it's about preparing for next year. That's how the mentality has to go.
“The players are fully aware and there's a lot of competition in our squad. Now it's up to us to try and continue to improve our own standard, that's really what it's about. That's just my view on it - there's always something to play for.”
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