Bristol City offer summer transfer hint as promising striker is loaned to Dundee

Bristol City have loaned promising young striker Seb Palmer-Houlden to Scottish Premiership side Dundee for the 2024/25 season, likely paving the way for at least one new forward to arrive at Ashton Gate.

Palmer-Houlden enjoyed a promising campaign with League Two Newport County last term, scoring nine goals and adding two assists in 41 appearances and the expectation was the 20-year-old, who signed a new contract in February, would be offered the chance to prove himself over pre-season and potentially earn a place in Liam Manning’s senior squad for the Championship season.

Had that come to pass, Palmer-Houlden would have likely been behind Tommy Conway and Nahki Wells in the heirarchy, with the plan for a fourth striker to arrive in the summer window.

The academy product's squad status could even have been elevated significantly if the sale of Conway had been executed, with the 21-year-old yet to sign a new deal and effectively up for sale as he enters the final 12 months of his agreement.

Therefore allowing Palmer-Houlden to depart at this stage of the summer, with pre-season having not begun and the potential for Conway to no longer be a City player at some stage over the summer, leaves the Robins a little vulnerable in terms of numbers in attack; in a summer where that area of the field is the chief driver of their recruitment strategy.

That is unless, of course, there is confidence within the High Performance Centre that new arrivals in that area of the pitch are imminent, which has allowed Palmer-Houlden, who trained sporadically with the senior squad towards the end of last season, to move on a short-term basis to earn more consistent first-team minutes.

The Knowle and Bath-raised forward is the second such player to depart City on loan already this summer after Ephraim Yeboah joined Doncaster Rovers, providing ach individual with full pre-seasons for their temporary clubs but also reducing Manning’s attacking options over the summer programme, both in training and their friendlies.

Conway will be afforded an extra break following his time since late May with the Scotland squad, leaving Wells as the only recognised striker likely to report back for pre-season testing at the end of next week. City do have Olly Thomas in the Under-21s, while new signing Josh Stokes could develop into a central forward but it all points towards at least one new face in that position, if not two, joining the club in the coming weeks.

City hold a recall clause in Palmer-Houlden’s loan agreement, should they wish to bring him back to Bristol in January. Technical director Brian Tinnion said: “This is a great opportunity for Seb to continue his football development. He had a really good season in League Two and the Scottish Premiership provides the perfect next step in his progression.”

Dundee finished sixth in the Scottish Premiership last season under Tony Docherty, who served as Derek McInnes’ No2 in BS3 during his spell as Robins manager from 2011-2013, and have experience of using and developing loan talent.

Burnley trio Dara Costello, Michael Mellon and Ryan Dodgson were regulars, while young Liverpool full-back Owen Beck was a consistent presence in the defence.

“It’s brilliant, I’ve seen the boys train today and the facilities and I just can’t wait to get started and hit the ground running,” Palmer-Houlden said.

“It’s a great move for me. The Scottish Premiership is a great league and when I heard that Dundee were interested I jumped at the opportunity. I developed a lot as a player last season at Newport County and I want to continue that this season at Dundee.

“I’m a high intensity runner, I like to get in behind the defence and score goals and I hope that I will be able to play my part this season for the team. I just really can’t wait to get started and get out on the pitch.”

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