James will leave, but Williams talks go on
BRISTOL City midfielder Matty James will leave the club – but contract negotiations are continuing with Joe Williams, as the Robins announced the players they are retaining for next season.
James joins Andy King and Andi Weimann on the list of players released from Ashton Gate at the end of their contracts. Williams’ contract also expires this summer, but the club say they are still in talks with him about signing a new deal.
Nine young prospects have also joined the list of players released by City, including defender Duncan Idehen and goalkeeper Harvey Wiles-Richards, while the club has confirmed loan signings Scott Twine and Dire Mabude have returned to their parent clubs.
James was with Leicester when they won the Premier League in 2016, although injury ruled him out of that season. He has played 115 games for the Robins after signing for the club in 2021, netting four times, and joins fellow Foxes old boy King, who announced his retirement last week, and Weimann, who left in January to see out the last six months of his Bristol City contract on loan at West Brom, in departing.
Weimann’s name will now be added to the club’s record scorers’ wall at Ashton Gate – he scored 51 goals for City in 216 appearances after joining in 2018.
“The players departing have all been fantastic servants to this club,” said head coach Liam Manning. “They are all top professionals and have all made their mark at Bristol City. I wish them the very best for their future.”
Two big questions remain for City fans – and the club – from the publication of the retained list. Can the Robins persuade Williams to sign a new deal, and will the club want to, and be able to, re-sign midfield playmaker Twine on a permanent deal?
The latter returns to parent club Burnley, with the Lancashire side dropping back to the Championship next season, but the decision on whether he stays with the Clarets or is sold and who to, obviously is out of City’s hands.
The club have more sway with Williams. In the statement, City said simply: “Discussions are ongoing.”
The midfielder had a good season at Ashton Gate once his regular injury worries cleared up, and was a key figure in the club’s four-game unbeaten (excluding penalties) FA Cup run against two Premier League sides in West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
City have released nine youngsters who never really got into the firstteam picture at Ashton Gate – Ben Acey, Zac Bell, Mac Boyd, Marlee Francois, Callum Hutton, Duncan Idehen, Dylan Kadji, Harry Leeson and Harvey Wiles-Richards. Some, like Idehen, Kadji and Wiles-Richards, got closer to the first-team squad, but all have been released at the end of their contracts.