Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson believes Alex Scott’s price-tag should have risen to £30 million as Premier League clubs Wolves, West Ham, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur continue to eye the Championship’s Young Player of the Year.
Speaking just four days out from Bristol City’s league opener against Preston North End at Ashton Gate, the always-outspoken Robins boss insists that he ‘won’t be very happy’ if his star man leaves for a fee below the £25 million mark.
Don’t make Nigel Pearson angry. You won’t like him when he’s angry.
Wolves were the latest club to have a bid knocked back; The Telegraph reporting that the Molineux outfit found room in their limited budget to offer up £20 million for Alex Scott. And unless a particularly eye-watering offer arrives between now and the start of September, arguably the brightest young talent in the EFL will be pulling the strings in the South West again until the New Year at the earliest.
Wolves fail with bid for Bristol City’s Alex Scott
“There have been bids in for him,” Pearson tells the BBC. “But we’ll try and keep him.
“I don’t know how many bids there have been. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve made our stance quite clear as a football club. For somebody to gain the opportunity to talk to him, we’re talking about £25 million.
“There have been reports of bids for £21 million and stuff like that in various news outlet. I’ve even read with interest some journalists saying that maybe we’re setting our price too high for him.
“But what they fail to understand is we don’t want to sell him. That’s why we’re pricing him the way that we are. Actually, having seen him since the start of pre-season, we should be asking £30 million for him, never mind £25 million!”
Scott, nicknamed the ‘Guernsey Grealish’ due to his stylistic similarities with Manchester City’s number 10, is also on the radar of Crystal Palace, AFC Bournemouth, Newcastle and Tottenham.
West Ham also opened talks in June, per The Standard.
‘I won’t be very happy’
It’s a credit to Scott’s personality and focus, then, that the fresh-faced 19-year-old is refusing to let the near-relentless speculation distract him from his on-pitch responsibilities.
“The bottom line is we as a club have said; ‘he’s going to cost £25 million as a starting point’. And if something happens where he goes for less than that then I won’t be very happy, I can tell you that now,” Pearson growls.
“As far as I’m concerned we’ve made as statement as a club and we’ve got ourselves into a decent position financially in terms of where we are. All those things together mean we’re in a pretty good place, and we’ll be stronger if we keep Alex in.”
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