Bristol City should strike Coventry transfer agreement - John Mousinho wanted him at Portsmouth | OneFootball

Bristol City may look to sign Coventry's Jahnoah Markelo this summer if they seal the appointment of Portsmouth's John Mousinho

Bristol City have secured another top-half finish in the Championship, though having dropped six places in comparison to the season before, the Robins will be looking to halt that trajectory and get on the right track once again this summer with the correct managerial appointment.

Having ended their 17-year play-off drought with a 6th-placed finish last time around under Liam Manning, Bristol City will have been targeting a similar outcome this season, though with the hopes of putting up a better fight than their 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United.

However, Manning was poached by Norwich City, and whilst his replacement, Gerhard Struber, started well and showed glimpses of replicating that feat, the former Barnsley boss was unable to sustain the form required to achieve a top-six finish, and was duly replaced by Roy Hodgson until the end of the season in March.

Now, with Hodgson heading into the sunset once more, the Robins are looking to appoint a new permanent boss to take the reins in the Ashton Gate dugout, with Portsmouth's John Mousinho outlined as a serious contender.

Mousinho has done a wonderful job on a tight budget at Fratton Park, and should he complete the switch to Bristol, he could look to make a move for a player he missed out on to Coventry during the most recent January window.

Bristol City could look to sign Coventry City's Jahnoah Markelo this summer if John Mousinho completes his switch from Portsmouth

Bristol City lost Anis Mehmeti to Ipswich Town during the January window, which unsurprisingly zapped a lot of the spark and creativity out of the Robins side, with much of the onus falling on Scott Twine.

It goes without question that attacking reinforcements will be required heading into the summer, especially with Delano Burgzorg heading back to Middlesbrough from his loan spell.

Should Mousinho indeed make the move to Ashton Gate, then he may look to make Coventry City's Jahnoah Markelo one of his first additions, having missed out on the winger during the January window to the Sky Blues.

Portsmouth's spending has been heavily restricted by the owners, the Eisners, ever since he took charge at Pompey, and should they fail to financially compete with the rest of the teams in the division this summer, they will majorly increase the risk of stagnation and backsliding.

If Mousinho were to depart, the very foundations of the club would take a hit, and it would be incredibly indicative of Portsmouth's financial situation.

However, Mousinho has previously spoken about the club's potential of spending bigger this summer. Mousinho said: "Other clubs can do £2.5m-£3m and it doesn’t matter so much if it doesn’t quite work out. I don’t think Coventry will mind me saying this, but we looked at Markelo in January.

"He ends up going to Coventry for £4m-£4.5m. When we spoke to them after the game last Tuesday, their take was he’s done great and he’s been brilliant since he’s been in the building - but he was always a long-term signing.

"They were not thinking about him impacting the first team this season.

"If he’d impact the first team then great, but they’ve got (Ephron) Mason-Clark, (Tatsuhiro) Sakamoto, (Brandon) Thomas-Asante, (Romain) Esse and Jack Rudoni in the building all having the ability to play wide, you can throw Minhyeok (Yang) in there as well.

"They earned that in the position so it’s an extreme example, but we couldn’t afford to do that."

Indeed, Markelo joined Coventry instead from Swiss side FC Zurich for around £4.3 million, but the 23-year-old managed just 55 minutes of league football following his January switch.

Despite the amount of competition Frank Lampard's side has in wide areas, it's still surprising that Markelo has had as little playing time as he has, and with that unlikely to change in the Premier League, he could be on his way out the exit door this summer.

Mousinho may look to make the Surinamese one of his first additions at Ashton Gate, where he will be hoping to finally stamp his impact on English football.

John Mousinho is likely to be backed much more by Bristol City than Portsmouth

With Mousinho weighing up whether to stick with his project at Portsmouth or jump ship to Bristol City, what is almost certainly clear is that he will be backed significantly more with the Robins than with Pompey.

Bristol City have proven to be an excellent selling club over the years, with each of Antoine Semenyo, Alex Scott, Adam Webster, and, more recently, Mehmeti being sold for a significant profit, whilst Portsmouth are yet to make a big sale since their return to the second tier.

The addition of Markelo would almost certainly be a loan, but with Mousinho likely to make changes elsewhere across the squad, the opportunity to splash more cash than he has previously done would be enticing.

Markelo remains somewhat of an unknown quantity, but could make his mark at Ashton Gate next season on this one condition.