Bristol City keen on striking Wolves loan agreement for midfielder | OneFootball

With many clubs standing still and sticking with what they've got for now in the mid-season transfer market, Bristol City are aiming to strengthen their squad so that a push for the Championship play-offs is still achievable.

The big-money sale of Alex Scott to AFC Bournemouth in August means that there is room to manouevre this month and for the next few transfer windows, assuming that the money from the Cherries is coming in installments, and moves have already been made to sign West Brom loanee Taylor Gardner-Hickman permanently and loaning in Burnley attacking midfielder Scott Twine.

The departure of the long-serving Austria international Andi Weimann has created more room in the wage budget from the start of the month though, and it appears that head coach Liam Manning is keen to further strengthen his engine room.

Bristol City keen on loan deal for Wolves man Hodge

According to a report from the Daily Mail's Tom Collomosse, Bristol City are one of a number of clubs - although the only one named - that are interested in doing a deal for Wolves youngster Joe Hodge.

Gary O'Neil's side however will only sanction a deal depending on their own incoming transfer business this month, with the Midlands outfit yet to sign a player so far in the January window.

21-year-old Hodge, who signed for Wolves in August 2021 from Man City's under-21's squad, has played 13 times for his current club at senior level, with six of those appearances coming in the Premier League.

He has played just twice this season though with one other outing for Wolves' under-21's, so the decision could be made for Hodge to be sent out for the second half of the campaign with Joao Gomes, Tommy Doyle, Boubacar Traore and Mario Lemina - when he is back from the African Cup of Nations - to choose from.

Bristol City's Hodge interest comes as surprise considering squad depth

With Bristol City landing their priority position in the form of a number 10 in Twine, the expectation was that they were going to try and sign some striker competition for Tommy Conway.

But the interest in Hodge comes as somewhat of a surprise considering Manning looks fairly well stacked in that particular area of the pitch.

Joe Williams and Taylor Gardner-Hickman have been regularly operating in that area, with Matty James, the recently returned from injury Ross McCrorie and new young signing Adam Murphy all options too.

Hodge would be a signing in the Gardner-Hickman mould as he's a similar age and they play in the same position, but perhaps Manning sees Murphy as not ready yet and McCrorie as either a defender or wing-back.

City may have to fend off considerable interest from other clubs though, given that Collomosse claimed there is plenty of interest, but Hodge should be well within the club's budgetary constraints.