Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson reveals there has been no transfer interest in midfielder Han-Noah Massengo with the increasing possibility the Frenchman could leave on a free next summer.
The 20-year-old has had an offer on the table for around a year but has delayed extending his stay in BS3. The club want him to commit his future with the Robins having invested time and money in his development since joining the club from Monaco in 2019.
Pearson admits he has no idea whether Massengo is any closer to signing a new contract but concedes they find themselves in a situation that doesn't suit either the player or the club.
While he has featured regularly in pre-season, most of his appearances have come from the substitute bench. He came on against Cheltenham, Portsmouth and Bournemouth when the manager arguably selected a side with one eye on the season-opener against Hull and started against Exeter and Plymouth.
The worst-case scenario for City is that Massengo fails to earn a move away this summer and opts against signing a new deal which means he would practically be worth nothing more than a compensation fee with his deal expiring in 2023. It's also a policy Pearson is determined to eradicate with other players going forward to keep the model of the football club sustainable.
Speaking to Geoff Twentyman's Sounds of the City, Pearson said: "You've got to ask the player that because I've got no idea. The offer's been on the table for the season more or less and again when people talk about a player's worth... a player's worth for him at the moment here is he's a squad member who may get pitch time. That's it.
"You know my thoughts on players running contracts down and we as a club need to have policies that don't allow that in the future. We've invested a lot of money and time in him, and unfortunately, we're at a point where he's in the last year of his contract and there's nothing happening.
"There's nothing happening in terms of him committing himself for longer at the club and there's absolutely nothing happening in people being interested in him so, whatever people think of players, the bottom line is we pay his wages and he'll be a part of the squad or he'll be whatever we want him to be until the time suits for either us to move him on or not.
"It's unfortunate because he's a lad I really like, the offer on the table for him is a good offer, but outside of that I can't tell you what's in his brain or his representative's brains but clearly it's just a situation that we don't want and I don't think he does either."
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