Done deals - Bristol City announce double deadline day departure as £1.5m duo move on
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Bristol City have confirmed the permanent departure of two midfielders on transfer deadline day, with Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Tommy Backwell both making loan moves to lower-league sides permanent before the window closes.
23-year-old midfielder Gardner-Hickman has joined League One leaders Birmingham City after the Blues exercised a purchase clause in his current loan contract, while 21-year-old Tommy Backwell, who moved to League Two Cheltenham Town earlier in the transfer window, has also agreed to stay with his new side on a permanent basis.
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Hide AdThe Robins have wished both players the best of luck with their future careers as they look to thin down the squad having admitted in a club statement on Sunday that they had more players on their books than they had planned for.
Partly as a result of that, City are not expected to make any deadline day signings of their own as Liam Manning’s side push for a place in the Championship play-offs.
Gardner-Hickman and Backwell leave Ashton Gate
Gardner-Hickman’s departure comes about in similar circumstances to those by which he arrived at Bristol City – he signed from West Bromwich Albion on an initial loan deal ahead of the 2023/24 season, making the move permanent in last year’s January transfer window.
In total, the Telford-born midfielder made 40 appearances for the Robins, scoring one goal, before joining recently relegated Birmingham on loan towards the end of the summer transfer window. It is believed that he will set the Blues back around £1.5m.
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Hide AdBackwell, meanwhile, signed his first professional contract at Ashton Gate in 2022. He has previously spent time on loan with non-league sides Bath City and Yate Town but will depart Bristol City without making a senior appearance for the club.
He has only made four appearances since signing with new club Cheltenham on loan on 16 January, but appears to have impressed sufficiently to have encouraged the League Two side to make the move permanent within three weeks.
Bristol City expecting quiet end to transfer window
Bristol City haven’t made any signings in the January transfer window and aren’t expected to bring any new faces through the door on Monday before the deadline at 11pm. The club released a statement outlining their intentions on Sunday,
“We began the season with a larger squad than we would ideally operate with,” the statement read. “After making a real push to sign Scott Twine and Luke McNally late in the summer – decisions we are pleased we made – alongside a couple of expected departures not occurring, we entered January considerably behind on our season budget… We are not adding to the size of the squad.”
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Hide AdOne piece of transfer business which may get done in the coming days concerns Japanese forward Yu Hirakawa. The club have announced that they plan to make his loan deal from Machida Zelvia permanent in the near future.
In other news, the Robins have announced a contract extension for midfielder Mark Sykes, who had been the subject of a transfer bid from Stoke City. The offer was rejected and the Republic of Ireland international will now stay at Ashton Gate until the end of the 2025/26 season.
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