Bristol City: Championship ranking shows importance of Burnley deal - View | OneFootball

Scott Twine has made a strong start to permanent life as a Bristol City player after joining from Burnley over the summer

Bristol City persevered to complete a permanent deal for last season's loan star Scott Twine from Burnley during the summer, and the early signs suggest they will be very much vindicated in their investment.

Twine made the move to Burnley two summers ago from MK Dons, where he had enjoyed a stunning 2021/22 campaign under the tuition of now-Robins boss Liam Manning. The playmaker was simply classes above League One level, scoring on 20 occasions and laying on a further 13 assists to earn a move to Burnley in the immediate aftermath of their relegation from the Premier League.

Injury setbacks and stern competition for places in Vincent Kompany's star-studded, second-tier-winning side saw Twine struggle to make a significant impact during his only season in the Burnley squad, although he did return three goals amid just five league starts - including two free-kicks.

A loan move to Hull City was completed following Burnley's instant top-flight return as champions, where Twine somewhat struggled for consistency despite accumulating seven direct goal contributions in 23 matches.

Nonetheless, his loan was cut short midway through the previous campaign and he spent the final months of the season at Ashton Gate.

Bristol City's Burnley, Scott Twine transfer

Twine only scored twice for Bristol City during the second-half of the 2023/24 season but he still showed more than enough across his 10 appearances to convince the club to plot a permanent capture, which they eventually completed by shelling out a reported initial £3.2m fee.

Manning declared the transfer saga as a "battle", with City having fought hard to negotiate a fee on Burnley's terms amid a fire-sale at Turf Moor following their subsequent relegation.

The Robins boss said of the deal: "It’s been a battle, to be fair, in terms of our side, Burnley's side - it’s been long and drawn out with a huge amount of work but delighted to finally get there and get him in.

"Sometimes when it’s not happening people think you’re not doing any work on it but I can assure everybody it was a huge amount of phone calls to him, his agent, the club.

"There was a lot of communication, a lot of to-ing and fro-in, it’s been constant for three months to get to a stage where, ultimately, you’re trying to work it so that everybody benefits from the deal - Burnley get what they need, we get what we think is fair and the player gets what he wants.

"It’s been good to get it to a stage where everybody is comfortable with it and [we] look forward to seeing what he can do in the near future."

Scott Twine's start to the season at Bristol City following Burnley transfer

Twine has recorded just one strike and is yet to provide an assist after returning to the Severnside outfit on a permanent basis, although the underlying numbers swing strongly in his favour and suggest that he is sure to set up goals galore as the season goes on - should his current form continue, of course.

At the time of writing, no Championship player has carved out more big chances than Twine - whose xA return of 1.7 is the third-highest in the division behind proficient crossers in Alfie Doughty and Tom Fellows - while only Watford's Giorgi Chakvetadze has created more chances overall than the 25-year-old's 16.

Bristol City find themselves in mid-table once again after six matches of the new season, but an xG of 8.8 shows that the chances are being created and they could just ascend higher up the table if Twine can continue to be the inventive force in Manning's side.

Twine can consider himself unfortunate to have not yet claimed a single assist in league action, yet his creative output still indicates that the signing may turn out to be an inspired one in the months and even years to come.