Nigel Pearson hoping for the cash to flow in the EFL this coming summer to help Bristol City squad building

Bristol City are hoping for more cash flow in the Football League this coming summer, when it comes to the next transfer window.

The Robins have appealed to the EFL regarding a possible future penalty as the West Country outfit grapple to remain within the Profitability and Sustainability rules concerning the Championship.

Without parachute payments, Pearson’s side are at a huge financial disadvantage to some other teams in the division, while the covid-19 pandemic and costs associated to that, led to City recording a monstrous loss in their last accounts.

The club blames that loss on not just the lack of income from reduced crowd-attended fixtures but also because they were unable to bring in profits from trading players in and out. One example may have been the interest from Neil Warnock and Middlesbrough in signing striker Famara Diedhiou in January 2021.

The Teessiders did not make a bid in the end, restricted in their own spending by covid, and Diedhiou then left for free in June 2021.

Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson agreed with our assessment that the next transfer window is an important one for the club. He hopes there is more liquidity in the market and that the Robins can both buys and sell, and certainly more than happened in the last January transfer window.

“You could argue that that is the case,” said Pearson, as BristolWorld spoke to him ahead of the pre-Bournemouth game.

“It will be dependent [whether it’s an important and busy transfer window] on whether or not we can do business. If you can make headway in shaping a squad in a summer window, it stands to reason that you have a better opportunity of moving forward at a bit of a quicker pace potentially.

“It doesn’t always work out to be the case. Of course, the circumstances we’re working in will dictate that.

“Whatever potential plans that we have for making changes to our squad are going to still be dependent on a few factors that I can’t be in control of.

“That is, whether the market becomes more active than last year - I mean it was dead last year, let’s be honest - there’s very little money changing hands, and that’s where we all are.

“And whether we’re able to do the business that we want to do will remain to be seen,” he added.

The manager reiterated once again that no head of recruitment or such role would arrive at Bristol City this coming summer.

We asked if he could expand on how the club aims to “tweak” their recruitment for the next window, but there was no update.

“No, it’s not on the agenda [to bring in a head of recruitment or similar role]. That will be a club policy. I can’t expand on that,” confirmed Pearson.

“I’m not in the recruitment department. I don’t see that as being imminent.”

Meanwhile there was a brief update on Han-Noah Massengo, with the club still hopeful of signing the 20-year-old to a new contract.

The club announced a new six-year deal with Hummel on Wednesday with Massengo as the poster boy for the new deal.

Hopes have been raised among supporters that the Frenchman, who has done well this season in his 2,214 Championship minutes so far this campaign, may stay beyond the summer.

The former Monaco man will have just a year of his current contract remaining in July, and he may be allowed to leave with other teams interested in the dynamic box-to-box player.

“He’s contracted to the club and he’s been a good performer for us this season, as he was last season and we’re still trying to negotiate a new deal with him,” said Pearson.

“Outside of that, you can either read into something or not. I’ve already said that what’s important is that we don’t allow players to run the clock down and that’s my view, whether that’s shared by the club... and to my knowledge it is.

“I think Han-Noah being involved in a shoot [being the central image of the club’s announcement] like that suggests what we all think: that we’d like him to stay here longer.

“But I don’t have a crystal ball and I can’t tell you how that’s going to go in the summer. I’m just very realistic about these types of things,” he added.