Bristol City & West Ham sent £10m Leyton Orient warning - "We don’t need to sell" | OneFootball

Leyton Orient have been told to value key striker Dominic Ballard at around £10 million amid interest from Bristol City.

Leyton Orient are embarking upon another rebuild this summer, but they will hope to be more successful this time around in order to launch a promotion push once again next season.

Having lost the 2025 League One play-off final to Charlton Athletic last summer, the O's then underwent major surgery to their squad with so many key players leaving.

The league’s top scorer Charlie Kelman returned to parent club Queens Park Rangers, to be snapped up by Charlton, while fellow key men such as Josh Keeley, Jack Currie and Jamie Donley all also saw their loans end.

As well as that, Ethan Galbraith was sold on to Swansea City with Jordan Brown joining Blackpool for an undisclosed fee. Dan Agyei also left the club, joining Kocaelispor on a free transfer.

After Richie Wellens’ criticism of his squad at the back end of the 2025/26 season as the Orient narrowly survived relegation, another rebuild is in the offing – but they will need it to be much more effective and last year’s sales should make them extremely tough negotiators, too.

Leyton Orient told to slap £10m price tag on Dom Ballard as Bristol City start the bidding

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One of the key players that is linked with a move away is their top scorer from last season, Dom Ballard, with Bristol City said to have had a bid rejected for the O's key man.

Following their sales last summer, and the fact that ex-Orient midfielder Galbraith looks to be on the move to Stoke City in a £10 million deal - and Orient presumably having a sell-on clause - FLW’s Leyton Orient Fan Pundit Alex Rose believes Orient should only sell for a very high price.

Alex told FLW: “It’s quite an interesting one because £2 million for a club like Orient is not something we can ever really turn down.

“We accepted £1.5 million last summer for Galbraith, but I think we got a 25 per cent sell-on, and it looks as though he’s about to go for £10 million, so it looks like £4 million in 12 months for someone, so I don’t think we actually need to sell (Ballard).

“Also, our chairman has made it blatantly clear that we don’t need to sell this summer.

“When you look at Charlie Kelman, who is two or three years older than Ballard, go for £5 million, I think it was £3.5 million plus add-ons rising to £5 million, and (Jay) Stansfield going for £15 million and the money that is just flying around – for a 21-year-old that scored the goals that Ballard did, and in such a bad team, I mean he made most of those goals himself, I think he has to be valued between £7 million and £10 million.

“It has to be that kind of figure.

“I don’t think he will end up leaving this summer. I think there will be constant rumours. I think if he has a decent half a season then we will get the same money in January.

“£8 million-£10 million, £7 million-£10 million is probably where he has to be, given the madness of the market.”

Dom Ballard enjoyed an impressive stint at Leyton Orient - Richie Wellens will not want to lose him

Highly-rated having come through the academy at Southampton, Dom Ballard got his first taste of EFL football when he spent time on loan at Reading, with former youth coach Ruben Selles.

Three goals in ten appearances, mainly off the bench, were followed by a disappointing 2024/25 season where he spent time on loan at both Blackpool and Cambridge United without making much of an impact.

Despite that, Leyton Orient still took a punt on Ballard last summer, and he repaid that faith with 23 goals in 40 League One appearances as the former England youth international began to establish himself in professional football.

The concern, or at least questions, will be over just how good Ballard is or whether it is Richie Wellens again finding a tune out of a striker.

Whether it be Eoin Doyle at Swindon Town, who scored 25 goals in 28 games for The Robins under Wellens – hitting 20 or more goals in a season on just one other occasion during his career; or Charlie Kelman with the O’s, who 18 goals in his entire career before moving to Brisbane Road, scored 28 in a season and then went on to hit just seven in 36 games for Charlton last year.

The Wellens factor is something that circling clubs will have to keep in mind, but if they believe Ballard truly is the ‘real deal’, then a £2 million fee would appear to be a bit of a steal after his record last season.