Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson believes the Robins owe it to their fanbase not to sell off all of the family silver, as interest grows in star talents Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Han-Noah Massengo but if they are to leave Ashton Gate it will be on club’s terms.
In what has been an inconsistent campaign, far removed from the play-off aspirations of previous campaigns, City supporters have had to buy into the concept of a rebuild and that brighter and more ambitious horizons won’t be too far away once these foundations are laid.
Fundamental to that is a side underpinned by academy talent, with Pearson giving debuts to eight players from the Under-23 set-up since he took charge last February.
Some remain in production, so to speak, but others have become established first-team players, in particular Alex Scott, along with the very obvious developments of Semenyo and Massengo.
Understandably their performances have increased the volume of scouts at City’s games and just in the last seven days there have been various reports linking Premier League Tottenham Hotspur with Scott, and West Ham and Scottish giants Celtic with Semenyo.
With the summer window approaching, the expectation is that interest will then translate into bids, which - especially in the cases of Semenyo and Scott - will lead to a rather complex set of decisions.
At base level will be the bid against the internal value of each player but what also needs to be taken into consideration are the £38.4m losses posted for the financial year ending 2021 and the very likely prospect of City failing the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability rules next season, therefore incurring a points deduction.
However that also needs to be balanced out against the requirements of the team, the manager, the players themselves and supporters. Having spent significantly on season tickets and maintained loyalty to “the project”, to have key pieces such as Scott and Semenyo removed would, in some sense, be a betrayal.
“My view on it is always this - they’re our players and if we have to lose them, they’ll go on our terms,” Pearson said.
“We don’t want to necessarily be a ‘selling club’ just to keep afloat, because what that doesn’t do is give our fanbase any encouragement that what we’re trying to do is produce a side which is enjoyable to watch, will be successful and has players come through in our system. That is the ideal world. Maybe it’s pie in the sky but, who cares, it’s what we aspire to do.
"This current group of players who have come through, either our system or have been in our system for a long while, are very, very promising. But, like with every business, and football shouldn’t feel it’s above that, we have to make decisions which are right for the business.
“What’s important moving forward is that it’s verbalised and people understand, at least, what the rationale is behind how we operate and that’s going to be increasingly important.”
Semenyo is under contract until 2023 but the club hold a one-year option, while Scott’s agreement runs until 2025, giving City breathing space in that sense. Massengo’s case is a little different, however, with the Frenchman’s deal expiring next summer.
The club have been in contract talks since the start of the year over extending it but, as yet, there has been no development and, drawing reference it would seem to the Famara Diedhiou saga of last year, Pearson admits at some stage a decision needs to be made, in a financial sense but also with regards to the overall atmosphere of the club.
City were engaged, in effect, in contract talks with Diedhiou for more than a year but after failing to find a buyer in summer 2020, the Senegalese instead ran his contract down and left on a free last summer, meaning the £5.3m transfer fee plus more than £3m in wages invested in the striker was never recouped. Not a penny.
There was also the constant “will he? won’t he” noise which was a narrative throughout his final campaign and also then led to, it has to be said, a rapid decline in performances in the second half of the 2020/21 season.
Pearson doesn’t want that with Massengo, nor does he want City to be left short-changed if the Frenchman decides, understandably so, he doesn’t want to be locked into an agreement beyond next summer.
“Han-Noah Massengo, for instance, what we can’t do is get to a point where we’ve been in this situation before as a club, and that is players contracts running down and end up speculation about whether they want to stay, whether they don’t want to stay; it creates more negativity than positivity,” Pearson added.
“We are working hard and continue to work hard to hang on to our best players, because that is how we will progress as a football team.
“But what we can’t do is ignore market forces and that is if players or their representatives are being very stubborn about it, then there becomes a threshold where you have to start thinking about getting the best price that you can for that talent.
“Because otherwise the investment you make in them, both financial and time, is one that somebody else is going to benefit from.
“That’s not to say that players are going to stay or going to go, that is me having a business head on and saying, ‘we have to protect our own interests’.
"But, in the meantime, the Han-Noahs, the Alex Scotts, the Antoine Semenyo - and there are more - who will attract interest from other clubs, we want to keep them wherever possible.”
Pearson’s discussion on the subject was sparked by a question surrounding the additional pressure of young players having to deal with constant speculation around their respective futures.
Once upon a time, players could declare they “don’t read the papers”, which alongside radio and television was the only source of information relating to their particular industry.
But the relentlessness of social media, and the fact young footballers are so active in that digital space means that Scott, Semenyo and Massengo will all be completely aware of what is being said and claimed about them.
That creates an additional burden on them, with Scott just 18 and only in his first professional campaign, but Pearson indicates that such is their maturity on the field, that also indicates a greater strength of character off of it, enabling them to not always believe the hype.
“It’s really important to recognise that players in that sort of position that it’s alright showing maturity on the pitch because they are able to put in good performances, meaning they have found ways of dealing with that external pressure and that is one of expectation,” Pearson said.
“For somebody to say they’re not aware of links would be, I think, a foolish thing to say. They’ll all be acutely aware and we as a football club have to really think about our own situation as well.”
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