EFL club sets contract deadline for 25-year-old as Bristol City line up potential swoop | OneFootball

Northampton Town manager Jon Brady has admitted that the club have set a deadline for Fraser Horsfall to make a decision regarding his future.

As confirmed by the club’s official website last week, Horsfall, Shaun McWilliams and Liam Roberts have all been offered a new deal.

Having been impressed by Horsfall’s performances for the Cobblers last season, Bristol City have recently emerged as front-runners for his signature.

As per a report from Bristol World, the Robins have held discussions with the defender over a potential switch to Ashton Gate.

It is understood that Horsfall is also attracting significant interest from other clubs in the Championship whilst teams in League One are also keeping tabs on his situation at Northampton.

If the defender opts against extending his stay at Sixfields, he will be available on a free transfer in June.

Northampton will be participating in League Two again next season after suffering defeat at the hands of Mansfield Town in the semi-finals of the play-offs.

Making reference to Horsfall, McWilliams and Roberts, Brady has revealed that talks are ongoing with these three players over their futures.

Speaking to the Chronicle & Echo, Brady said: “We have strong relationships with each of those three players and obviously we tried throughout the season to try and re-engage those players to new contracts.

“They have waited until this situation and the end of the season and at the moment talks are ongoing.

“We are doing our best and time will tell on that over the next couple of weeks.

“We are in constant communication with them and we will see.”

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1) How many league appearances has Daniel Bentley made this season?

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Brady later added: “It’s a realistic process and we have spoken to them about that [a deadline] and there are certain parameters that we have set with them.”

The Verdict

If Horsfall is indeed attracting a lot of interest this summer, the Robins will need to act quickly in order to secure his services.

Although the 25-year-old may take some time to adapt to life in the Championship due to the fact that he has never featured at this level before, he is currently playing the best football of his career.

As well as scoring an impressive total of nine league goals for Northampton last season, Horsfall made 5.4 clearances per game and won 7.6 aerial duels per fixture as he recorded a WhoScored match rating of 7.27 in the fourth-tier.

By learning from Nigel Pearson’s guidance later this year, there is no reason why the defender cannot go on to become a key player for the Robins in the 2022/23 campaign.