Johnston's Hints, Secret Desires and Options.

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson hints a central defender has become a priority for the transfer window
By a_stockhausen

Head coach Lee Johnson has hinted that he is in the market for a central defender as a matter of priority.

The January transfer window opens for business today and City's head coach is working around the clock in a bid to recruit a couple of key players to strengthen the spine of his team.

He has made no secret of his desire to bolster his striker-force by bringing in another forward to provide assistance and competition for top-scorer Tammy Abraham.


But he and chief operating officer Mark Ashton are also looking to recruit a defensive player with good communication and leadership skills in the interests of rendering the Robins more solid and harder to score against.

Although Johnson already has four central defenders at his disposal, he has been forced to field Aden Flint and young Hordur Magnusson in the vast majority of games this season.

Former Watford and Udinese defender Joel Ekstrand was snapped up on a free transfer in September to provide cover, but fitness issues have restricted the Swede to just two first team appearances.

Signed from French club RC Lens in the summer, teenage prospect Taylor Moore is also a centre half by trade. But he lacks Championship experience and is still to prove he is ready to make the considerable step-up to regular first team football in England.

Johnson's options were further limited by the hamstring injury that forced Magnusson to limp out of Friday's 2-1 Championship defeat at Ipswich Town. Even f the problem turns out to be less serious than initially feared, the Iceland international is unlikely to be fit to face promotion-chasing Reading at Ashton Gate today (MONDAY).

A team that has struggled to keep clean sheets this season now requires alternative defensive options as a matter of some urgency and City have already been linked with highly-rated Preston centre-back Bailey Wright.

Johnson refused to name names, but did suggest a centre half might feature prominently on his January shopping list.

He told The Post: "It's an area where we haven't really had the options we would like. Magnusson and Flint have been flogged really.

"Magnusson has done really well given the fact that, previously, he'd only ever played about 50 first team games and none of them at Championship level. It would have been fairer to him to have given him a bit of a rest, but I haven't had the option.

"It is something we are looking at and it may be that we have to bring someone in, whether that is as a short-term or long-term option."

Asked if there was any prospect of Ekstrand playing first team football during the second half of the season, Johnson replied: "I wouldn't rule it out. He has been training consistently now for about for a while."

Moore remains a work in progress, while fellow teenager Zak Vyner could add to City's defensive options once his loan spell at League Two Accrington expires later this month.

But City's immediate requirement is for an experienced alternative option to Flint and Magnusson.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/bristo...nsfer-window/story-30023481-detail/story.html

 

Here we go again, complete and utter waffle and re hash of what we have all heard before, is it Johnson or the press?