‘Dissecting City’s busiest transfer window’

So, the dust has settled on what must have been Bristol City’s busiest transfer window since the system of the transfer window was introduced. My beloved club were involved in a remarkable 33 deals from July 1- September 1 2016. Our big news in the last few days was, no doubt, the departure of Jonathan Kodjia.

The joke going around social media sites and so on were that we, Bristol City, had done over Aston Villa twice in that last week before the window closed. Firstly, on the pitch, and secondly with that lucrative transfer.

Kodjia left BS3 for a mere £11 million pounds. This fee could rise to £15 million depending on Villa’s and Jonathan’s success in coming seasons.

So, where do we start with the dissecting of that transfer? I was away from Bristol when news broke of his potential departure. I first got a text saying we had agreed at £14 million deal with Derby.

To say I was speechless was an understatement. Fast forward three days and I was slightly disappointed that he left to another Championship side considering several Premier League clubs were allegedly sniffing around.

Now, I am not sure I ever really thought I would be discussing such a multi-million pound deal in this blog, or really in the next few years when dealing with Bristol City, but, it is what it is, and City should be applauded for their shrewd business acumen, something we have been far from savvy with in recent years.

From £2 million, to £11 million, and potentially £15 million, in roughly a year is a financial turnaround that any venture capitalist on Dragon’s Den would be proud of.

That wasn’t the only deal that earned us some impressive sums over the window. Further prudence was shown in both the sale of Albert Adomah and Yannick Bolasie by the adding of a sell on fee. We also got a decent return on Agard and Ayling.

So, who have we signed? There was the six or so pre-season acquisitions that seem to have bedded in well. Specifically O’Neil, Tomlin, O’Dowda and Abraham of course. In the last week of business two signings that really caught my eye were Gustav Engvall and Taylor Moore both rumoured to have arrived for around £1.5 million.

Moore joins us from French side Lens. He’s the England under 19’s captain and can operate at centre back or, interestingly given the departure of Ayling and the lack of fitness of Mathews, right back. I’m envisaging a ball playing defender with technical ability akin to someone like Eric Dier who also plied his formative footballing trade away from these shores.

Engvall looks like a big strong all action Scandinavian striker who potentially, for those with reasonable memories or at least of a certain age, could be the new Soren Anderson.

So, all in all I think we have done alright since the season drew to an end at Loftus Road last May. Financially, as discussed, the club have done ever so well. We’ve lost a few players of quality but realistically only one from our regular starting line-up.

The players we have bought in, for the most part, are young and exciting with bags of promise. Add to that the experience and guile of O’Neil and Tomlin and you have to say we are in a much stronger position than this time last year.

This weekend sees us take on Rotherham in the first of seven games in just twenty two days. It’s the kind of game that City fans will think they should be winning given the start we have had but I have a feeling this game could prove a tricky one.

I would say an away point wouldn’t be a bad prize to take away from the wonderfully named New York Stadium this weekend.