Bristol City confident of completing Burnley deal after transfer breakthrough | OneFootball

The Robins have had their eye on the defender for a while.

Bristol City are reportedly confident of sealing the signing of Burnley defender Luke McNally before Friday's transfer deadline.

The central defender is likely to be Liam Manning's seventh signing of the summer, according to Bristol Live, with those at Ashton Gate believing that they will be able to agree a deal with their Championship rivals for the transfer of McNally.

He was on loan at Stoke City last season and featured in 38 of their 46 league fixtures.

The 24-year-old has been a long-standing target of City's, with their interest first being reported earlier in the month. When the club were looking to offload Tommy Conway, who eventually joined Middlesbrough in a deal worth £4.5 million, McNally and Scott Twine were discussed as part of a potential swap deal for Conway.

Football Insider then stated that the Robins had company when it came to interest in the Irishman, with Birmingham City and his former loan side also being in the mix.

Bristol City confident of getting Luke McNally deal over the line

Manning's side are said to be bullish about their chances of securing McNally's services before the window closes on Friday. Bristol Live added the two parties appear to have made a breakthrough in their talks for the defender, who isn't part of Burnley manager Scott Parker's plans.

Even though the swap deal never came to be, City could still end up with the players they were looking to get out of it. They acquired Twine earlier in the window for a reported fee of £3.75 million, and now look to be closing in on a deal for his former Clarets teammate.

Alan Nixon stated just over a week ago that the Robins were leading the chase for the 24-year-old, but that there was a slight gap in the valuations, with City rating him at £2 million and Burnley wanting £3 million for the former Oxford United man.

Bristol City are in need of defensive reinforcements

If City do manage to sign McNally, it will come at a good time as there are some fitness concerns in their defensive ranks. Rob Dickie recently suffered a hamstring injury, and there is no guarantee that either Kal Naismith or Rob Atkinson can stay healthy for the majority of the season, based off the evidence from the previous one.

Dickie and West Ham United loanee George Earthy are both set to miss out on Saturday's game against Derby County due to their respective knocks. The experienced defender is set to undergo scans on his hamstring to fully ascertain the extent of his injury.

Even with Dickie in the line-up, they have conceded five goals in their opening three matches. If they want to remain in and around their current seventh place position come the end of the season, then that record at the back will need to change.

McNally helped Coventry City reach the play-off final two seasons ago during his short-term spell with the club in the latter half of the 2022/23 campaign. The hope will be that the level of quality he showed as a Sky Blue will emerge in a Robins shirt. If he is able to do that, then the City faithful could be in for a very enjoyable season, given the threat they pose going forward.