Bristol City transfer news: Crystal Palace ‘leading contenders’ to sign City ace, Newcastle ‘submit’ £25m bid for Watford striker

Bristol City finally got their EFL Championship season up and running last night with their first win of the new campaign.

The Robins were 2-0 winners at home to Luton Town but ended the match with just ten men on the pitch following Mark Sykes’ second half sending off.

The decision saw City boss Nigel Pearson react strongly, saying: “In the modern game, I’ve got no complaints about Sykesy but what I do have a complaint about is the way their player wasn’t dealt with in the same way.

“I’ve got to be honest with you, I thought about it last year, and I’ve thought about it again this year and that is basically to pack up being involved in the sport.

“And that is not because how shallow the modern game is and how some of the aspects of the modern game irritate me but the standard of officiating, as far as I’m concerned, is at an all-time low.”

Pearson added: “We’ve done okay, we took the game to them as we’ve tried to do in every game this season”.

Next up for The Robins will be the visit of Cardiff City to Ashton Gate this Sunday.

The Welsh side have had a mixed start to their own season with wins over Norwich City and Birmingham City as well as a defeat to Reading.

Meanwhile, the summer transfer window is open for just under two weeks before it slams shut at the end of the month for clubs across England.

Here are the EFL Championship transfer news stories making the headlines on Wednesday morning:

Swansea City head coach Russell Martin has admitted that the club may need to bolster their defensive options during the closing stages of the transfer window after Joel Latibeaudiere picked up an injury in yesterday’s clash with Millwall (Football League World)

Former Norwich City, Rotherham United, Millwall, Reading and Sunderland striker Lewis Grabban is on the radar of West Bromwich Albion following his decision to leave Nottingham Forest (The Athletic)

Watford are in discussions with Fluminense over a deal for attacker Matheus Martins (The 72 via The Athletic)

Newcastle United are ready to submit a new bid for Joao Pedro of £25million plus add-ons (Football Insider)

Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are emerging as the leading contenders to sign Bristol City’s Antoine Semenyo before the transfer deadline (Football League World)

Middlesbrough have ‘submitted a bid’ of €10 million to sign FC Groningen’s Jørgen Strand Larsen (Sport Witness via TV2)

Interest is growing in Sheffield United midfielder Sander Berge – with Brighton and multiple other Premier League clubs facing competition from France and Germany – but any deal will have to reflect the concerns about his long-term fitness (Football League World)

Burnley remain close to completing a deal for Macedonia international Darko Churlinov after agreeing €3.5 million fee with Stuttgart and the player is set to undergo a medical this week (Lancashire Live)