Bristol City closing in on striker as Tommy Conway's future comes into fresh focus

Bristol City have submitted a fresh bid for Rapid Vienna striker Fally Mayulu, Bristol Live understands, having been knocked back by the Austrian club earlier this week.

Mayulu has spent just one season in the Austrian Bundesliga after joining from second tier BW Linz last year, but looks increasingly likely to leave with growing confidence that an agreement can be reached with the Robins.

Reports in Austria have claimed the Frenchman is already on his way to Bristol to undergo a medical after a figure in the region of £3m was agreed, but that is thought to be premature at this stage and terms have not been finalised between both clubs or even with the player yet.

That said, Rapid have reportedly started searching for the 21-year-old’s replacement with Erling Haaland’s cousin Jonatan Braut Brunes, who plays for OH Leuven, one of their targets, indicating Mayulu’s exit could be just a matter of time.

Technical director Brian Tinnion revealed on Wednesday that two players have made verbal agreements to join City with details being finalised, altough Mayulu is not thought to be one of those individuals and would therefore represent a "third signing", as such, providing the other two can be concluded.

A tall and athletic frontman who’s shown clear development during his time in Vienna, with 11 goals in 35 appearances in his debut season, Mayulu fits both the playing profile desired by Manning but also the overall age range the club would ideally like to recruit within this summer.

Bristol Live has learned that City have been offered several free agents in their 30s, who could be considered established and relatively high-profile Championship performers, but want to focus on recruiting youth, despite Nahki Wells, Harry Cornik and Kal Naismith being the only members of the dressing room over thee age of 29.

Mayulu’s potential arrival also brings Tommy Conway’s future into focus once again as Tinnion admitted for the first time on Wednesday that City would ideally like to sign four attacking players this window, two of which will be strikers.

That number has increased by one from the end of last season, where Manning was quoted as saying he wanted a striker, winger and playmaker - preferably Scott Twine - due to the likelihood that Conway will be leaving.

The 21-year-old is approaching the last year of his contract at Ashton Gate and with little intention to sign an improved agreement, City are reluctantly but actively open to selling the Scotland international.

Should Mayulu arrive along with the as-yet unknown other striker, that frees up Conway to pursue a move elsewhere, should any clubs meet the Robins’ expectations in terms of value.

Conway is not scheduled to link back up with the Robins squad until mid-July having been given additional time off, along with Ross McCrorie, after spending nearly a month with Scotland in training and then at Euro 2024.

Both players will therefore miss the Robins’ training camp in Portugal, with City’s first confirmed summer friendly taking place on Tuesday, July 23 against Newport County at the High Performance Centre.

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