Wanted by Sunderland in January, Bristol City should join the race for £5m-valued striker in the summer: Opinion | OneFootball

Bristol City may have seen Chris Martin and Antoine Semenyo depart in the recently-passed January transfer window – with the latter generating the Robins a healthy eight-figure fee – but they managed to bring Harry Cornick and Anis Mehmeti to Ashton Gate for only a fraction of the sale.

This means that there will likely be money in the kitty in the summer, the Robins could bolster their striking department further when the window opens.

One player that should be high up on their radar is Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris, who simply needs to be playing Championship football for the 2023/24 season.

Winning the golden boot during the 2020/21 campaign, netting an impressive 31 times, he is well on course for swooping the award again, having 16 league goals to his name already.

As well as playing a starring role in League One, he performed well in the Championship last time out, scoring 12 goals in 41 second tier appearances and causing problems in the division.

Possessing power, intelligence, a turn of pace and good link-up play, he is a complete forward who could thrive in a team who have bundles of creativity within their ranks.

Ultimately, he is a different kind of striker to what Nigel Pearson has in his arsenal, whilst he is more than ready for the second tier once more.

Seeing Martin and Semenyo depart late on in the window, Bristol City have lost an element of physicality within their forward line options, whilst his excellent goalscoring record makes him an exciting potential option for the Robins to explore.

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He also offers determination out of possession and could meet the off-the-ball demands to thrive at Ashton Gate.

A report from Sports Illustrated revealed that Championship club Sunderland sent scouts to watch the prolific forward ahead of the January transfer window.

However, Peterborough Darren Ferguson dealt the Black Cats a blow when he revealed a £5 million price valuation of the 28-year-old, whilst in conversation with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, via Peterborough Telegraph.

Clarke-Harris has a contract that is set to expire in the summer of 2024 and that could mean that Peterborough’s stance regarding the sale of the 28-year-old could be softened.

The summer would represent the last opportunity that they could generate a handsome enough fee for the forward and a Championship club like Bristol City could capitalise.

It will be interesting to see Peterborough’s stance going into the summer as Clarke-Harris is someone that could feature on several radars in the Championship and perhaps elsewhere.