Bristol City highly-rated midfielder attracting interest of Leicester City & Southampton

Bristol City may have a battle on their hands to hold on one of their most valuable assets in Han-Noah Massengo.
Interest from the Premier League has emerged in Bristol City’s Han-Noah Massengo. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)Interest from the Premier League has emerged in Bristol City’s Han-Noah Massengo. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Interest from the Premier League has emerged in Bristol City’s Han-Noah Massengo. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

Leicester City and Southampton have reportedly joined the race to sign Bristol City midfielder Han-Noah Massengo.

The 20-year-old has become a vital figure for the Robins this season, playing 25 of their 32 Championship matches but now there is an ever-growing list of suitors who want to prise him away from B36.

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Massengo was subject of media interest from Freiburg and Watford last summer but has stayed at Ashton Gate for the past two transfer windows.

City’s resolve could now be tested in the summer after the club made record losses of almost £40m with a major sale perhaps likely to help go towards keeping the club afloat.

A report from Football Insider claims that the two Premier League clubs have been keeping tabs on the French midfielder.

Han-Noah Mssengo is one of the most highly rated players in the Championship. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)Han-Noah Mssengo is one of the most highly rated players in the Championship. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Han-Noah Mssengo is one of the most highly rated players in the Championship. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

His contract expires in 18 months time and there have been efforts made by the club to sign him to a new deal given the time and effort they have invested in him.

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So far though no there has been no public update on where both the club and the player are with those talks with the player currently focusing on his football right now.

The player’s representatives and the clubs transfer committee are the two parties who will aim to thrash out a deal but they may be prepared to wait until the end of the season before ironing out terms.

“We are very keen to get some sort of conclusion. It’s one of those where we’re trying to secure him for a longer period,” said head coach Nigel Pearson over a fortnight ago.

“We’re trying to get to an agreement with him. But he’s not involved in that, he wants to concentrate on his football.”

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Massengo has been at the club since August 2019 after joining for a fee of around £3m from Monaco signing on a four-year deal as a replacement for Marlon Pack, who left at the end of the month. He has gone on to make 86 appearances for the club, registering one assist whilst he is still yet to find the net in the colours of City.

As well as Massengo, It was reported last week that the Foxes and Everton were interested in Massengo’s midfield partner Alex Scott and that both teams had sent scouts to watch over the attacking midfielder.

This though was swiftly denied by head coach Nigel Pearson who said the club had received no approach from either side. That isn’t to rule out the two teams though stepping up their interest should their scouts like what they see.

“There’s been no interest in him,” said Pearson when asked about the interest in Scott last week.

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“It’s in the paper about him but we’ve had no enquiries about him. There’s interest in the media about him but that’s as far as it’s been.”

Despite the transfer window being firmly shut, City’s young stars have been attracting the interest of other clubs with scouts being sent to Ashton Gate to watch over their players as they compile a list of summer transfer targets.

Last week BristolWorld exclusively reported that Scottish Premiership giants Celtic had been watching over in-form forward Antoine Semenyo.

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