Bristol City beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in race to sign highly-rated 16-year-old

Bristol City have completed the signing of highly-rated Weston-super-Mare youngster Brandon Bak. He has signed scholarship terms with the club.

Bak came through the academy system at the Southern League Premier outfit as a 12-year-old. Four years on he has progressed through the system and become a first-team player at the Seagulls this season.

The 16-year-old has gone on to make three appearances for Weston-super-Mare’s first team as well as four unused substitute appearances. Bak is a striker and recently got a goal and an assist in the Somerset Cup over Shepton Mallett. He has also been prolific for their Under-18 and U19 sides, scoring eight goals in five games.

As Bak is only 16 years old, he is only able to sign scholarship terms with City, but once he turns 17, he will be able to sign a professional deal. He featured for City in a practice match after being shown around the High Performance Centre by academy director Brian Tinnion.

“Brandon has done really well and we are delighted for him and his family,” said first-team manager Scott Bartlett, who gave the departing player his best wishes.

“Like Ryan Jones a couple of years ago, he started to attract attention from professional clubs and that is a credit to all our staff in the academy and to the environment our first-team players and staff create.

“We wish we could have kept hold of him for longer, but it’s unrealistic to expect him to turn down Bristol City. He is a talented boy and we wish him well and will of course follow his journey with interest.”

News has come to light that City beat Premier League outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers and several other clubs to the signature of the forward. Wolves boast a Category One academy which is the highest attainable level and allows them to compete against the best academies in England.

Appearing at the Bristol City Fans Forum in Southville, Tinnion spoke of how he pitched the dream to City’s newest player. An obvious pathway to the first-team was shown with Alex Scott the prime example along with Zak Vyner.

He said: "We just signed a lad from Weston-super-Mare, a 16-year-old. I took him up the HPC and I took him around the first-team changing room.

"There were stickers everywhere and I went academy, academy and there was 11 stickers. His jaw dropped and his brother fell over. He signed the next day. He had other clubs, he had Wolves, he had different clubs but he’s from Weston-super-Mare and I said why would you want to go anywhere else? He scored in a practice match today."