Zak Vyner to Wrexham link addressed after Bristol City hit by 'Murphy's law' in Derby defeat

Gerhard Struber admits he has “no influence” when it comes to Zak Vyner’s future, after the Bristol City defender was linked with a January move to Wrexham following the Robins’ Championship defeat to Derby County.

The Reds missed the chance to cut the gap to the top six in dramatic fashion as they were thrashed 5-0 by the Rams at Ashton Gate on Friday evening. Goals for each of Rhian Brewster, Ben Brereton Diaz, Bobby Clark, Patrick Agyemang and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen saw John Eustace’s side run riot in BS3.

Naturally, the result and performance left supporters deflated following the full-time whistle. Such a mood was only further emphasised by reports that quickly emerged surrounding the short-term future of currently injured defender Vyner.

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Sky Sports reported in the moments that followed Friday’ defeat that City’s Championship rivals Wrexham had agreed a deal to sign Vyner, whose current contract is set to expire at the end of the season, with the 28-year-old set to undergo a medical with Phil Parkinson’s side on Saturday.

“I have no further information,” the head coach told Bristol Live when asked about the reports. “I don’t know what’s going on around Zak Vyner.

“It’s not in my hands, I have no influence in this direction.

“I think this is never easy when you lose in the end key players,” Struber continued. “I would say, especially with Zak Vyner, we’re losing not only a really good player from Bristol City, but this is also much more.

“We have a really good relationship. This is a big character in the dressing room, so in more directions, this is not easy, but this is football. We have to deal with that, that we may lose maybe the one or other player.

“With Anis Mehmeti we did it, and maybe, I don’t know what is the reality tomorrow, Sunday or Monday, we have to deal with that.”

Without Vyner at their disposal, the Robins produced perhaps one of their worst performances of Struber’s tenure so far in their defeat to the Rams on Friday evening. In truth, the five-goal winning margin perhaps flattered the Reds as they were repeatedly undone by Eustace’s side.

Brewster opened the scoring with a smart volley before the quarter-of-an-hour mark, and just three minutes later, Brereton Diaz had squeezed home a second from the right side of the box. Clark added a third before the interval, before Agyemang and Salvesen struck beyond Radek Vitek from close range after the restart to fire Derby up into sixth-place, ahead of Saturday’s fixtures.

Even before a ball was kicked, the whole evening had a slightly strange feel, with supporters and players alike struggling to make their way to Ashton Gate due to standstill traffic throughout Bristol on Friday afternoon and evening.

While Struber was adamant that the different lead-up was not to blame for his team’s disappointing showing against the Rams, he felt what supporters saw on the pitch was a reflection of what had been a difficult day for the Robins.

“I would say our whole day was Murphy’s law,” Struber reflected. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong today. I would say the game was a mirror of the preparation.

“On the same time, with bad preparation, you cannot play at this level. We were far away over the whole game time, all aspects from our world of football, from our typical behaviours. I could feel a really good Derby team with a lot of physical statements, a lot of really good transition moments and we were not ready in box defending, we don’t look ready to stop the crosses.

“In every aspect, we were second best and not ready today to create a resilience in this game to bounce back. It’s a day we can put really quickly out of our memories, bounce back and move on with a different performance.”

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Zak Vyner to Wrexham link addressed after Bristol City hit by ‘Murphy’s law’ in Derby defeat

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