£25m Bristol City star Alex Scott suffers injury ahead of PNE opener amid Bournemouth links

Nigel Pearson has admitted that Alex Scott has suffered a knock ahead of Bristol City’s season opener with Preston, amid ongoing transfer reports.

The 19-year-old is under an intense amount of speculation, with talks of a move to AFC Bournemouth and Wolves this week, but as of yet no club has met the clubs’ £25m valuation.

Despite talk of the Cherries being in ‘advanced talks’ on Wednesday and a deal being near, Scott has trained with the Robins this week, but suffered a knock in training, which could mak

Asked if there was an update on Scott’s situation, Nigel Pearson responded: “Not as far as I know. It’s where we are at the moment. He picked up a knock the other day in training.

Pearson added: “He’s been excellent in pre-season. He’s becoming very tired of being asked the same questions. I think it’s important he gets on with the job until something happens really. As far as I am concerned, it’s always about preparing for us.

“The decisions that are made in terms of whether he stays or goes will be dependent on whether people are prepared to match our valuation and that is where we are at the moment.”

Scott delivered several performances to note in pre-season including a man-of-the-match display in the 8-0 win against Newport County. He had a shorter break than most as he was involved in the FIFA U20 World Cup with England, in which they were knocked out at the group stages.

This summer has been the first time that any club has made an approach for Scott, with Bristol City rejecting offers from both Wolves and Bournemouth. Earlier this week, Pearson admitted he would be disappointed if Scott went for less than £25m, and that such a high fee has been placed on him because they are reluctant to lose him.

As no club has met the valuation of Scott yet, it is business as usual and should he overcome the knock sustained in training, he should be involved against Preston, or their competitive fixture after that, a Carabao Cup first round tie against Oxford United.

Scott’s manager was asked the question as to how he has responded to speculation, and Pearson said: “Pretty well but like I say but when there is the amount of noise in the media, even people in your sorts of roles have been passing judgement on what we’re asking for them. No doubt those journalists have a good relationship with the clubs that are interested in him because that’s normally how these things work.

Our valuation is based on the very fact we want to keep him. We’re not all of a sudden going to value him lower just to make it easy for clubs who want to take our prized asset. That’s how it is, and ultimately it’s not my decision on whether we accept a deal or not. We’ve made a very clear statement as to what the deals need to look like before people get an opportunity to speak to him.