Nigel Pearson has suggested Bristol City will consider Dan Bentley’s future this month if the Robins were to receive a serious offer but will not be bullied into doing business, particularly if he feels it leaves them short.
As reported on Wednesday, Bristol Live understands fellow Championship side Stoke City are interested in signing City’s club captain on a loan deal until the end of the season. The Potters have failed to have a consistent number one this campaign with both Jack Bonham and Joe Bursik sharing duties and Alex Neil eyes Bentley as a potential solution.
Bentley, whose contract expires in the summer, last featured for the Robins in the reverse of Saturday’s fixture - a 3-0 defeat to Birmingham City in October. Since then, Max O’Leary has been preferred in the last 13 Championship matches while summer signing Stefan Bajic was handed his debut for the 3-1 League Cup defeat to Lincoln in November.
Speculation continues to circle around numerous City players most notably Alex Scott and Antoine Semenyo but Pearson was eager to stress that they have only received "tentative enquiries" so far. He didn't deny Stoke's interest in Bentley but questioned whether they will receive an offer in the region of what they were looking for.
When asked if they would consider moving on the club captain should a serious offer come in, he replied: "It all depends on what you call a serious offer.
"You would be very, very surprised by what clubs deem to be reasonable offers. We will only move players if it’s in our interest to do it or if we feel it’s a fair situation.”
Pearson was wary about leaving his goalkeeper department short should they sanction the move. While O'Leary looks nailed on to keep the No1 shirt, Bajic's lack of experience despite his impressive form for the Under-21s could prove problematic. Will Buse and Harvey Wiles-Richards are also out on loan.
“What we don’t want to do is leave ourselves short either,” explained the City boss also referencing the recent hamstring injuries to Andi Weimann and Tommy Conway.
“We picked two injuries up last week and we’ve already talked today about how it affects the squad, so it doesn’t take too much imagination to then expand that to what it looks like when you pick up more injuries.
“We’ve done exceptionally well to keep the squad as available as we have, there’s a lot of hard work that goes into that both with the medical sports science team and also how we schedule training and there are lots of other factors too and the players input into that is massive too. They’re buying into what we’re trying to create.
“Whatever I say here there are going to be situations which contradict that just because it changes so quickly. We are trying to change the squad; I know it’s been frustrating for a lot of people as it has been for us internally too in terms of the rate, we can do it.
"We’ve had enquiries about players but it just remains that, there have been tentative enquiries but not a lot going on really. I think it indicates where football feels it is at this level. Championship clubs are facing similar scenarios and coming to terms with the financial aspects of life post-COVID.
"It is understandable clubs aren’t doing business quickly. Because we are in a scenario at the moment where we need to move players before we bring players in, it appears other people are in the same position. It just means progress is slower in that regard."
In other transfer news, Pearson denied reports from Football Insider that the club are exploring the opportunity to sign Manchester City defender Finley Burns on loan this month. When the question was put to the manager, he responded: "No, not that I'm aware of."
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