![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_Josh-Stokes-Bristol-City.jpg\")
Bristol City midfielder Josh Stokes at Ashton Gate(Image: Rogan Thomas\/Bristol City)<\/p>\nJosh Stokes has been left out of the matchday squad for two of Bristol City’s three competitive games so far this season<\/p>\n
17:40, 20 Aug 2025Updated 20:59, 20 Aug 2025<\/p>\n
Bristol City midfielder Josh Stokes at Ashton Gate(Image: Rogan Thomas\/Bristol City)<\/p>\n
Bristol City \u201cneed to be patient\u201d with Josh Stokes, Gerhard Struber has insisted, but the Robins head coach is hopeful that the midfielder will be ready to feature consistently for the Reds’ first-team in “the next few weeks.”<\/p>\n
City confirmed the signing of Stokes from Aldershot Town in January of last year, with the then-teenager immediately returning to the Shots on loan for the remainder of the 2023\/24 campaign. After spending last pre-season with the Reds, the decision was taken to allow the attacking midfielder to leave BS3 temporarily once again, where he this time linked up with Cambridge United<\/a> in League One.<\/p>\n In his time at the Cledara Abbey Stadium, Stokes scored eight goals and laid on four assists in all competitions, winning both the U\u2019s Player of the Season and Young Player of the Season awards. That good form whilst away from Ashton Gate saw the 21-year-old rewarded with a new contract<\/a> until the summer of 2028.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Gerhard Struber details stance on outgoings and loan signings in Bristol City transfer latest<\/a>READ MORE: Tom Rawcliffe interview notebook: Bristol City CEO on transfers, Jason Knight and replica kits<\/a><\/p>\n However, having missed part of this year’s pre-season through injury, the former Cambridge loanee hasn\u2019t been included in the matchday squad for any of City\u2019s two Championship games so far this term. His only first-team involvement has come as a substitute in the Carabao Cup win over MK Dons<\/a>, leading to questions around where he sits in the Robins’ current plans.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a little bit in the middle-world between,\u201d Struber told Bristol Live<\/a> when asked about Stokes’ current position in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon. \u201cWe know and we see it the last few weeks how big his talent is, but also, he has competition in the roster.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a little bit to be patient with him in this way, but I have big trust in his skills. He\u2019s a very interesting young player with very interesting skills. I hope he can make the next few weeks, the important steps, so that he\u2019s also ready for more gametime. Not in the Under-21s, with us; this is the goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI can see that he is a very hard-working boy, but also he has, in the pre-season, a little bit of a problem to be always ready, to be available. He has some topics, a small injury that brought him out for a short three weeks, so right now, I can feel he makes steps, good progress, and we hope he\u2019s ready for us in the next few weeks, especially when we have more games.<\/p>\n “Especially next week, we start again with the League Cup, so we will see what\u2019s going on with Stokes.”<\/p>\n With a little under two weeks left in the summer transfer window, Struber and City are still targeting further additions to their ranks. While the Reds head coach has been reluctant to disclose where and who he is looking to recruit, he has made no secret of his desire to, and confidence that the Robins will, secure one or two new faces<\/a>.<\/p>\n Join Bristol City Live’s Whatsapp community for all the biggest Bristol City stories sent straight to your phone<\/strong><\/p>\n Bristol City Live<\/a> is now on WhatsApp and we want you to join our community.<\/p>\n Through the app, we\u2019ll send the Bristol City news, live match coverage, team news, transfers, fixtures, analysis and more straight to your phone.<\/p>\n To join our community you need to already have WhatsApp. All you need to do is click this link and select \u2018Join Community\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Bristol Live<\/a> team.<\/p>\n We also treat community members to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out at any time you like.<\/p>\n To leave our community, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose \u2018Exit group\u2019.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/p>\n Click here to join our WhatsApp community.<\/a><\/p>\n Understandably, given the size of the current squad in south Bristol, City CEO Tom Rawcliffe has explained that outgoings would likely be required<\/a> if such signings are made before the September 1 deadline.<\/p>\n From a financial perspective, permanent exits would be more beneficial to the Robins than loan departures. However, Struber was quick to stress the importance of loan moves in the development of young players when he met the media ahead of City\u2019s trip to Pride Park to face Derby County.<\/p>\n When asked if he saw Stokes as a first-team player, rather than one of the young players for whom the Reds could consider a loan, Struber said: \u201cYeah, but it\u2019s always a little bit to do with what maybe comes in and what comes out.<\/p>\n “For me, it\u2019s the most important thing for me that young players have a chance for gametime at the highest level, what is possible at the moment.<\/p>\n “In this direction, I plan with him, he\u2019s an important player for us, but that I could say no in this direction, I think this would also be not honest.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Bristol City confirm Joe Williams blow as midfielder suffers setback during injury rehab<\/a>READ MORE: Gerhard Struber makes ‘expectation’ point as Bristol City boss responds to transfer question<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Stokes has been left out of the matchday squad for two of Bristol City’s three competitive games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,2686,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-360482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115063408847799055","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1744476931_129_0_WhatsApp-Phone.jpg\")
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