Wolves have improved £22m offer for Bristol City’s Alex Scott rejected as they battle with Bournemouth for the midfielder’s signature, with the Robins holding out for at least £25m
- Wolves bid £18m for Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott earlier this month
- They have returned with a £22m bid, but this has also been knocked back
- City want £25m for Scott, who is also attracting interest from Bournemouth
Wolves have had a £22m bid for Bristol City midfielder Alex Scott rejected as they try to fend off rival bidders Bournemouth.
After having an opening proposal of £18m knocked back earlier this month, Wolves have returned with an improved offer but have still not been able to make a breakthrough in negotiations with the Championship outfit.
Bournemouth also bid £15m last week, but Bristol City want at least £25m before parting ways with one of their brightest prospects.
Scott is still only 19, and had an impressive campaign at Ashton Gate last season, making 42 league appearances.
He has also attracted interest from West Ham and Italian giants Inter Milan, although Wolves and Bournemouth appear to be leading the race for his signature at the moment.
Neither club has been able to agree a fee with Bristol City, though, as they look to strengthen their midfield ranks.
Alex Scott tweeted “wow” with a Spanish flag in the wake of Carlos Alcaraz’s stunning Wimbledon triumph over Novak Djokovic on Sunday evening and was immediately beset by replies from Wolves and Bournemouth fans imploring him to sign for them.
“Spain has beaches so does Bournemouth – he’s coming to the chez confirmed”; “Come on Alex come to Wolves you won’t regret it, such a good young talent and definitely can be a key player at Wolves”; “That was my reaction to Lopetegui too” etc.
Perhaps those supporters should direct messages of that nature to the clubs they follow, given their apparent unwillingness up to now to reach Bristol City’s valuation for the midfielder.
Despite the Robins desire for £25million being the understood benchmark for several months leading into the summer window, to the point it was discussed publicly by Nigel Pearson and Steve Lansdown, top-flight clubs continue to offer below that amount with Wolves the latest to be unsuccessful.
Having made an £18m approach earlier in the window, they returned with a renewed proposal over the weekend in the region of £20m, however it wasn’t significantly more than their first offer and was promptly dismissed. With Bournemouth failing with a £15m plus add-ons last week, no club is yet to reach the magic number to give the Robins something to think about and internally at City there has been a sense of slight bafflement as to why these offers continue to fall short.
The Cherries were erroneously banking on, and until the weekend remained confident, they were the solitary potential buyer but with Wolves re-entering the race – at least for now – City have been justified in maintaining their position given the potential for a bidding war surrounding the 19-year-old.
Of those holding long-standing interest, Brighton & Hove Albion consider his price too punchy and although Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Newcastle United are known admirers, there’s been no impression so far in the window that they’re willing to bid. A situation that, admittedly, could change.
Bournemouth are widely expected to make a second offer for the England Under-20 international this week but unless it’s a notable upgrade on their first attempt, and that of Wolves’ second approach, it seems a somewhat fruitless exercise.
That is, unless, they plan to unsettle Scott who played 45 minutes for City in their 6-2 win over Torquay United on Saturday in their first pre-season friendly and is set to feature at the High Performance Centre on Tuesday with the visit of League Two Swindon Town.
There is no indication that Scott, who has two years remaining on his contract, is necessarily actively pushing for a move but, at the same time, clubs are not making blind attempts to prise him away from Ashton Gate without having conducted a degree of due diligence beforehand.
Gabriel Agbonlahor’s opinions on TalkSPORT can swing wildly in terms of their credibility but the former Aston Villa forward was spot on last week, when discussing Bayern Munich’s failed transfer bids for Harry Kane.
“Clubs don’t go in for players and make bids unless they’ve spoken to the player’s agents,” he said. “That’s how it works. It happened with me when I played, you get people contacting you before they put a bid in.
“If you don’t want to go, the bid doesn’t come in. There’s no point Bayern Munich embarrassing themselves because Daniel Levy says ‘Okay, £90m. We have a deal’… and he might not want to go.”
Both Wolves and Bournemouth can ultimately provide immediate opportunities for playing first-team top-flight football, something that has always been Scott’s primary desire should he make the move away from the West Country.
But, for now at least, that remains a little irrelevant. A narrative has been subtlety constructed that City are slightly over-pricing their prized asset and therefore reducing their chances of a sizeable sale and denying the midfielder a move.
In-part to try and force the Robins into a decision they initially didn’t want to make – hence the lower bids as a kind of “the best you’re going to get” – but City’s position admirably remains as it always has been. The message is maybe just taking a bit of time to get through.
