Ex-Cardiff City and international right-back could be defensive solution for Bristol City

Bristol City have to watch the pennies. A precarious financial situation and overly high wage bill, combined with the knock-on effects of the covid 19-pandemic, means that the club will be unable to spend vast fortunes in the summer transfer window.

And with senior right-back Danny Simpson recently released from the club, before spending on another incoming, the Robins will certainly look at what is happening at their academy. After all, defensive talents such as Joe Bryan and Lloyd Kelly have come through in recent times.

One player that the coaching staff will be examining closely at full-back will be Wales U18s player Zac Bell, who was part of the Young Dragons group to face Finland U18s on Friday, which ended in a 4-2 victory for the Welsh.

(He came on in the second half, playing right-centre-back, showing good distribution and defensive skills.)

Although summer 2021 signing George Tanner has played well this season, the West Country outfit have had problems on their right-flank all year, with some 10 players having played in the right-sided berth, from Zak Vyner to Andi Weimann to Jay Dasilva.

And with Championship safety almost assured, there may be opportunities for more academy talents to get senior game time and press their claims for long-term inclusion before the end of the campaign. Young midfielder Josh Owers was the latest to progress to a place on the bench in the draw against West Brom.

Bell, 18, has stood out in Bristol City’s recent good run at U23s level that sees the Robins top of the Professional Development League 2 South Section, and he has just the attributes that might well suit that right-back position in the long-term.

An intense and aggressive style of play is likely to appeal to manager Nigel Pearson, as it certainly does to former Bristol City defender Rob Edwards, now in charge of the Wales U18 age group.

Edwards is regularly at the High Performance Centre keeping an eye on Bell and co, while Wales U21 coach Paul Bodin has been at Ashton Gate recently too.

Bell has attended international training camps previously, including with the higher U19 group, and he also represented Wales as a member of the 2019/20 Victory Shield squad.

The West Country club like what they see in the gritty and energetic player who hails from the tough north Cardiff area of Llanedyrn, in the east of the Welsh capital, located approximately 3.5 miles from the city centre, and the Robins have done well to recruit the young defender.

With City since 2017, Bell was formerly on the books of Cardiff City but wasn’t happy with the Bluebirds, and was soon snapped up by the Bristol City academy, despite Swansea City also holding an interest in the player.

A six-month spell out of the game to help recover from Osgood–Schlatter patellar ligament inflammation had to be overcome and demonstrates the determination of the player.

That same drive is also shown on the pitch.

Bell’s abrasive play could help stem the attacks coming from City’s right over the years ahead, a weakness where the club must improve in the future, to help stop the high numbers of goals being conceded.

And the Robins certainly have faith in their young full-back. A contract until 2024 was handed out last August, with a three-year pro deal not often handed over as a first contract.

With fellow full-back Harry Leeson (who signed a three-year deal then too), Sam Pearson and Barney Soady, Bell forms a quartet of Wales youth talents captured from over the bridge but who will look to tread the path of David Cotterill, Andy King, Joe Morrell and others.

This week has been a tough time for the Bristol City academy and some of their young players, with decisions made on the futures of several prospects. Dreams will have been crushed.

But in Bell the club may have found another sound defender, still steadfast and resolute on that path to the senior side, just like he hounds opposition wingers, eager to grasp opportunities that come his way.