Coventry City agree deal for Bristol City’s Kasey Palmer as midfielder set to depart Ashton Gate

Bristol City attacking midfielder Kasey Palmer is close to completing a move to Coventry City.

A switch to the Midlands is at an advanced stage and is expected to go through in the next few days, with a medical arranged.

If the deal is signed off by all parties, and no hitches are expected with personal terms already agreed, then it could end a long-running transfer saga for the West Country outfit.

Mercurial playmaker Palmer, 25, only started one league game in the 2021/22 season and has not featured for Nigel Pearson’s team since appearing in the 1-2 home loss to Nottingham Forest last October.

A move elsewhere was on the cards last January when several Championship sides expressed interest, including QPR and Birmingham. However the Robins could not reach a final agreement with any interested parties, and Palmer stayed at Ashton Gate until the summer.

And a proposed move to Cardiff City also broke down recently over the terms of a switch across the Severn Bridge.

Pearson has spoken publicly about some players not being in his plans for the next season, widely believed to include former Blackburn Rovers and Huddersfield Town player Palmer.

The move to the Coventry Building Society Arena is expected to eventually be on a free transfer, with Palmer released from his current contract.

“We’ll get better and the challenge for us now is to put together a campaign which gives us a chance of getting promoted ourselves,” Pearson said recently.

“That may sound like pie in the sky but it doesn’t matter. We need to aim high, there’s no point in setting the bar low. Players that come in will need a strong desire to achieve.

“I don’t want journeymen who just want to come in and play for a nice club. I don’t want that, we’re not about that. We need to find that competitive edge that allows us to overachieve results-wise.

Mark Robins and assistant Adi Viveash believe that they can realise Palmer’s potential, however, and that the Sky Blues can benefit from Palmer’s incisive play in midfield.

Allowing Palmer to depart, and his wages, may now allow Bristol City to recruit themselves.