'He’s definitely worth more' - Dom Ballard claim made after £5m Bristol City move | OneFootball

Leyton Orient's £5 million sale of Dom Ballard to Bristol City has received a mixed response from our FLW Fan Pundit.

Leyton Orient are in a bit of a rush to replenish their squad after The O’s confirmed the sale of star striker Dom Ballard to Championship outfit Bristol City.

It has been reported that Leyton Orient have managed to secure a fee of £5 million with add-ons and a sell-on percentage from The Robins for their marksman, who excelled in League One last season.

Ballard arrived at Brisbane Road on a permanent basis from Southampton last season after being a highly-rated prospect for a while at St Mary’s but enduring fairly underwhelming loan spells at Reading, Blackpool and Cambridge United, all being in the third-tier.

He finally began to shine at professional level in East London last season, scoring 23 goals in 40 appearances for Richie Wellens’ underperforming Orient, who finished 20th in the table a year after being play-off finalists.

Last summer saw that team broken apart and that has not been the case this time around but the departure of Ballard will be a frustrating one, especially after losing League One’s top scorer Charlie Kelman last year, having been on loan from Queens Park Rangers before joining Orient’s play-off final slayers Charlton Athletic for a similar fee.

Dom Ballard fee is realistic and helps Leyton Orient do their own business

Action Images

In the 2025-26 League One season, no other player scored more than eight goals for Orient as Ballard ran away in the club’s scoring charts.

While FLW’s Leyton Orient Fan Pundit Alex Rose believes Ballard is worth more than what he has been sold for, there is an acknowledgement that the deal being completed now is a positive thing in helping Orient re-invest into their squad, focusing on the attacking positions.

Alex says: “If it is £5 million up-front with add-ons then it makes sense.

“I think we were also at a point where we were very cautious of letting it go on for too long and then not being able to bring someone in before the season starts.

“It’s one of them where we probably could have held on for a couple of weeks. He might have scored two or three in the first few games of the season and we maybe could have got £6 million up-front plus add-ons, £7 million up-front plus add-ons but it’s at a point where, a week before the season, we just needed to get it done and dusted so we could bring someone in.

“He’s definitely worth more when you look at what has been floated around. You look at £7 million for Richard Kone and £4.5 million for Lorent Tolaj, and Ballard is younger.

“Realistically, if you look at the sell-on fee plus add-ons, I think, for a club like Orient and the position we are in this close to the season and Ballard was the only striker we had in the building, it had to be done to allow us to bring two in.”

Leyton Orient should trust Richie Wellens to recreate Dom Ballard again

Action Images

Charlie Kelman finished as League One’s top scorer a couple of seasons ago before largely struggling to again adapt to life at a higher level in the Championship.

It may not be that the level is the only difference, though, with Nathan Jones a far more reactive and conservative coach than Wellens, who has a habit of getting strikers to thrive in his system and style of football.

Eoin Doyle had his best ever scoring season as an experienced forward with Wellens’ League Two title-winning Swindon Town season in the 2019-20 campaign, having also found some much-needed scoring form under Wellens at Oldham Athletic in Wellens’ first managerial job during the 2017-18 campaign.

Ash Hunter, Ian Henderson, Paul Smyth and Ruel Sotiriou are all other strikers who have found scoring form, with the exception of Henderson, that they have struggled to replicate elsewhere.

As a result, Orient fans should remain confident that the departure of Ballard will not prevent them from producing another prolific attacker next season with Wellens in charge, .