Yates signs: Identifying 4 ideal Tommy Conway replacements for Bristol City if he leaves | OneFootball

Tommy Conway is a man who has raised the eyebrows of top clubs across the UK, and Bristol City are at risk of losing the forward this summer.

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano provided an update on Conway, saying that several teams in the English top flight are interested in him, as well as clubs from other high-ranking leagues.

Football Insider believed some of these top teams to include Nottingham Forest, Wolves and Brentford, from the Premier League, and Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers.

The position of the club was made clear by their sporting director, Brian Tinnion. They want to keep hold of the 21-year-old and tie him down to a new long-term deal. His current contract schedules him to leave Ashton Gate at the end of next season.

Every day that passes means that his current agreement with the Robins gets closer and closer to being a year from ending. This puts City in quite a vulnerable position, one that the aforementioned top tier sides may look to exploit this summer.

Plans need to be in place in case Bristol City lose Conway, so Football League World have picked out three players that should be earmarked as potential options.

Aaron Connolly

The now former Hull City and Brighton forward didn't play as much of a role at MKM Stadium as he would have liked, but Aaron Connolly's underlying numbers suggest that he maybe should have.

He had a 20% conversion rate for the Tigers in the last campaign, which ranks him inside the top 20 forwards in the league that played in more than 10 games, as per Stathead. He also overperformed his xG by 1.4 and he scored 0.5 goals for every 90 minutes he played.

Had he been used more, maybe Hull would have considered keeping him on. He's now a free agent, and the Robins should certainly look into getting him.

Jerry Yates

Out of every forward on the planet, FBRef ranks Jerry Yates as the fifth most similar to Conway. The past season hasn't been a great representation of the player that he is, but that shouldn't take away from his past achievements.

He scored 14 goals for a relegated Blackpool side in the 22/23 Championship campaign. That is quite impressive.

He's not been able to find his rhythm since he joined Swansea City for £2.5 million. This also really wasn't aided by his profile, which does not fit Luke Williams' style of play.

The Swans may be happy to try and recoup some money from him, in which case the Robins should be snooping about in case they can snap him up.

Dion Charles

After another disappointing end to a play-off run, a lot of Bolton Wanderers' best players may feel that they need to make a move that justifies their ability. There are plenty of players in Ian Evatt's squad who are arguably too good for their current level; Dion Charles is one of them.

The Northern Irish forward has netted 30 times in League One over the previous two campaigns, and he may feel that he is ready to make the step up.

Bolton would probably want a sizeable fee for the 28-year-old, but so will City for Conway. The funds generated from selling the Scottish striker would allow them to go and replace him with said money.

Max Dean

A slightly more like-for-like potential replacement in terms of age is MK Dons forward, Max Dean, who has impressed at the Stadium MK after making a switch from Leeds United.

The 20-year-old bagged 16 goals in League Two during the 2023/24 campaign and 19 across all competitions. Dean impressed as MK competed for automatic promotion across the season. He was in the thick of the action in a disappointing play-off campaign, too, scoring in the second-leg defeat and also missing a penalty.

An 8-1 aggregate defeat to Crawley Town means MK are stuck in League Two once more and clubs higher up the pyramid could be looking at Dean as a result of that. Bristol City should be one of those, if Conway leaves.