"He does have quality" - Bristol City stay touted for defender despite Luke McNally & Ben Nelson links | OneFootball

FLW's Bristol City fan pundit has viewed that transfer target Luke McNally will only provide competition with Naismith still providing quality.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

With reports suggesting that Bristol City are chasing Burnley centre-back Luke McNally, and are also in the running for Leicester City youngster Ben Nelson, the Robins will have to assess options at the back.

According to Alan Nixon, Liam Manning's side are after the Burnley defender to sure up their centre-back options before the deadline on Friday.

The 24-year-old has only made four league appearances for the Clarets since signing from Oxford United in 2022, but has impressed in the Championship with Stoke City and Coventry City in the past one-and-a-half seasons.

Manning is keen to bring McNally to the club, with towering Leicester City youngster Ben Nelson also on the club's radar, as per James Piercy of the Bristol Post, but what does that mean for the fellow defensive options at Ashton Gate?

Manning seems happy with the current pairing of Rob Dickie and Zak Vyner, who have started every Championship game together so far this season, but Dickie suffered an injury against Coventry City this past weekend.

Transfer targets could alleviate the pain of Dickie's future absence though, and one current player who could be worried about his Robins future is Kal Naismith.

Bristol City urged to keep Kal Naismith around despite Luke McNally & Ben Nelson links

FLW's Bristol City fan pundit, Tom Sandy has suggested that despite Naismith should be kept around - even if the Robins sign a new centre-back before Friday's deadline.

Naismith spent the final six months of last season out injured with a hamstring problem and then a subsequent calf injury, and he hasn't started any of City's three league matches so far in 2024-25.

Nevertheless, Sandy is adamant that the Scotsman has a part to play still under Manning's management.

"Luke McNally is a transfer target, he's mainly being brought in for depth and I haven't seen too much of him, so we don't know if he'll be pushing for a start, but I think we're very settled at the moment with Rob Dickie and Zak Vyner," Tom told Football League World of Bristol City's current options at the back.

"If you look at our depth though, we've got Rob Atkinson who's been out for over a year with an ACL injury. During his recovery, he took another knock, so he's out for even longer and isn't fit to play.

"Kal Naismith was an injury worry last season and I think a lot of City fans would agree with me on this, he's a player much more suited to playing in a back three.

"He's much better on the ball than he is off it, he's excelled when he's played just in front of the back two but sort of slotting in as the third defender when defending.

"I think he struggles in a four at the back because he's not the most physical player, and he's too inconsistent. We lost a lot of goals from his errors.

"As well as that, if we're going to play a three-back occasionally, which we know Manning has used before, as we saw at Hull in switching to it late on, we're going to need more centre-backs - Haydon Roberts can tend to slip in there when playing a three-back. "Luke McNally is being brought in for depth and in that regard I wouldn't necessarily say we need to get rid of Naismith, I don't think he's someone that needs to be rushed out of the club. He does have quality and has been our best player on a number of occasions.

"There's no one I'd want more in a back three than him. I think we need McNally to compete for positions, but Naismith should stay."

Kal Naismith could get his chance due to Rob Dickie injury

During the Robins' 1-1 draw with Conventry City on Saturday, first-team favourite Dickie got substituted for Naismith in the 52nd minute, indicating a potential problem for the ex-QPR centre-back.

Manning doesn't know the seriousness as of yet, but had praise for Naismith after playing his first significant amount of league minutes since 2023.

Speaking to BristolLive, Manning said: "I think we have to give credit to Naisy, he did an outstanding job.

"For me, what we've already got is a really high-level centre-back who came on and showed his qualities with and without the ball today.

"We've got Naisy, and then we've also got Rob Atkinson who's playing in the under-21's on Monday. So we've got depth and competition already."

This indication suggests no reason that a 32-year-old will be leaving, and with a potential absence for Dickie now, it could be Naismith's time to step up, even if Nelson could be arriving from Leicester to provide further competition.