Bristol City want to execute transfer plan in January but Gerhard Struber's focus on here and now

Gerhard Struber and Bristol City have six more Championship matches to play between now and the start of the January transfer windowGerhard Struber and Bristol City made five signings during the summer transfer window(Image: EFL)

Bristol City want to execute the plan put together in the summer transfer window in January, according to Gerhard Struber, but the Reds boss insists the majority of his energy is focused on his side’s upcoming fixtures.

Between now and the new year, when the transfer window will open for the second time this season, the Robins have six Championship matches to play. Before Christmas, City will face Millwall, Leicester, Coventry and Middlesbrough, before making the trip to The Hawthorns to face West Brom on Boxing Day and travelling to The Den on December 29.

With 24 points up for grabs over the course of the next four weeks, many supporters are viewing the next month or so as potentially definitive for the Reds’ season and, in particular, their top six hopes.

As well as the upcoming run of matches, in the eyes of some fans, what happens in the winter transfer window could be decisive. Although Struber and the recruitment team in BS3 are discussing ways in which they can strengthen in January, he feels his primary responsibility currently, is to work with those already in his squad.

“It’s of course a little bit a topic of balance, but I would say that most of my energy goes into the match preparation and the training preparation,” the City boss explained at the High Performance Centre on Wednesday. “This is in the here and now, and we have to do, in the here and now, the best that we can.

“The boys, they deserve my energy, and they don’t deserve a coach in front of them with ideas in the window. Of course, when the boys go home and the night is coming, then I think a little bit more, and then I have some ideas where we speak together here in our recruitment team and with all the people that I would say have a big experience in the Championship. [We] help together how we can deal, in a transfer window, in a direction that we make the roster stronger.

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“That’s the plan, and in this direction, we work, but my whole energy goes into my group of players here, and I think this is, right now, the biggest responsibility.”

Over the course of the summer window, the Robins made three permanent and two loan additions to their ranks – all of which were announced after the appointment of Struber as head coach was confirmed in June.

Adam Randell, Joe Lumley and Emil Riis signed four, two and three-year contracts at Ashton Gate, respectively, while Radek Vitek made the temporary switch from Manchester United, and Neto Borges joined the Reds on loan from fellow Championship side Middlesbrough.

Borges was the final new face through the door when he arrived in BS3 the day before the deadline, but in the days and weeks leading up to the end of the window, Struber had been open about his desire to add another attacking player to his roster – as well as the Brazilian.

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Ultimately, no such player was signed, leaving the Robins head coach with Riis, Sinclair Armstrong, Fally Mayulu, Olly Thomas and Ephraim Yeboah as his striking options, until the new year, at least.

When asked by Bristol Live if his perspective of where his squad needed strengthening had changed since the summer window ended, Struber replied, “With all the injuries that we had, with all the topics, with all the learnings, I would say that what we plan in the summer, I would say [that] this is something that we want to execute in January.

“This has not changed so big, but in the end, it’s more a question of how we execute it in January, and this is hopefully better like in the summer transfer window.”

Bristol City want to execute transfer plan in January but Gerhard Struber’s focus on here and now

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