Bristol City Eyes Alex Scott's Future Amid Premier League Interest
Bristol City are quietly watching the Premier League transfer market – and Alex Scott sits right at the heart of it.
Owner Steve Lansdown has confirmed the Championship club stand to cash in again if AFC Bournemouth eventually decide to sell the midfielder, thanks to a sell-on clause built into the deal that took Scott to the south coast.
City plucked Scott from non-league Guernsey FC in December 2019, developed him, showcased him, then sold him to Bournemouth for around £25m three-and-a-half years later. Since then, the England Under-21 international has grown into one of the most admired young midfielders in the top flight, drawing serious attention from Chelsea and Arsenal.
Chelsea tested Bournemouth’s resolve last month with a £64m bid. The Cherries turned it down. They insist Scott, tied to a contract until 2028, is not for sale – even though he has rejected a new deal.
Lansdown knows how the market works. And he made one thing clear.
“We would never let a player depart without having a sell-on clause,” he told BBC Guernsey.
Bristol City inserted one when Antoine Semenyo left for Bournemouth, and they were rewarded again when the forward moved on to Manchester City. The same principle applies with Scott.
“So we'll be hopeful that Alex will be sold by Bournemouth at some point in the future because we will then get a share of some of the proceeds,” Lansdown said.
That is the model: identify talent, invest, develop, and if the player climbs again, share in the upside.
“You take a player on, you invest in their future, their training, their medicals and all the other aspects, and you want them to play for you,” Lansdown explained. “And if they can't play for you and you can move them on to somewhere else, you hopefully get a fee, an ongoing fee, if they go to a bigger club again.”
He would not reveal the exact percentage City inserted into Scott’s deal. Typically, though, such clauses are calculated on the profit the selling club makes. If, for example, City held a 20% sell-on and Bournemouth hit their reported £80m valuation, the Championship side could bank in the region of £11m.
For a club chasing the Championship play-offs, that is not just tidy money. It is potentially transformative.
Lansdown, who built his fortune by founding the finance firm Hargreaves Lansdown, has been underwriting Bristol City’s ambitions for more than two decades. He became chairman in 2002 after already becoming majority shareholder, then expanded his sporting footprint by taking control of Bristol Rugby in 2012, eventually bringing both clubs under the Bristol Sport umbrella at Ashton Gate.
Now, with the game’s financial stakes rising, he is openly seeking fresh backing.
“I've made it perfectly clear that I've been looking for investment into Bristol City to go either alongside me or basically take me out of it at some point in the future,” he said. “We're not at that point yet, but we're looking, we're talking to people and we'll see where it leads us.”
The message is blunt: modern football at the sharp end is an expensive business.
“But it's a big business football and if we want to be at the top of the game we need to have that investment,” Lansdown added.
He knows the tension better than most. Supporters want signings, momentum, a push for promotion. The balance sheet demands restraint.
“Obviously, your supporter base wants you to spend money and wants you to be successful, that's the outside pressures,” he said. “The inside pressures are keeping a balanced budget as much as you possibly can.”
That balance rarely holds without fresh capital.
“You can't really do that without injecting capital in there, so the amount of capital you put in there dictates how well you do,” Lansdown said. “So the more people who get to invest into the club, and that's why I'm saying we're looking for new investment, the better chances you have of being successful.”
For now, Bristol City wait. They push for the play-offs, court new investors, and keep a close eye on the south coast.
If Bournemouth ever decide their £80m man can go, Ashton Gate will feel the ripple.
