Bristol City didn't quite hit the jackpot with Juventus transfer agreement | OneFootball

Hordur Magnusson arrived at Bristol City with plenty of promise, but wasn't able to live up to it at Ashton Gate

Signing anyone from the academies of one of Europe's biggest giants will get any side in the Championship excited, and that was definitely the case when Hordur Magnusson made the switch from Juventus to Bristol City in July 2016.

The then-23-year-old had just come off the back of a European Championship campaign for Iceland, who famously reached the quarter-finals that year after knocking out England.

Magnusson didn't actually appear for his country during that tournament, but still had five caps for his country when he made the move to Ashton Gate. And having spent multiple years in the Juventus academy upon his departure from his home country, there was still plenty of room for the centre-half to grow and improve under Lee Johnson at Bristol City.

However, his time with the Robins, whilst not a complete disaster, was underwhelming at best, and after two seasons where he wasn't exactly the first name on the team sheet, he would move on and play in Europe for CSKA Moscow.

Hordur Magnusson's dream debut was as good as it got at Bristol City

Magnusson couldn't have dreamed of a better debut than the one he had at Bristol City, as the Icelandic international scored in a dramatic 2-1 comeback win over Wigan Athletic, which ended up being his only goal in a Robins shirt.

The then-23-year-old started and completed the first 23 games of the 2016/17 Championship season, and was clearly well-liked by Lee Johnson, but when the club went through a rough patch on the pitch towards the back end of 2016, Magnusson found himself under the microscope, and wasn't able to retain his place in the side.

Bristol City went on a run of 11 defeats in 12, which saw them slip down the table rapidly, after holding a position inside the Championship's top ten at the end of November. The new signing was dropped for the first game of 2017, and played just four times in the league following that in his first season, being left on the bench 12 separate times.

The Robins ended up staying up quite comfortably that season, thanks to a run which saw them win six of their last ten games. The only game Magnusson played during that stint was a 5-0 loss to Preston North End.

His second season started in a similar vein to how his first ended, being an unused substitute in the opening 12 league games, a run where Bristol City lost just once. His first appearance was from the bench in a 3-0 defeat at home to Leeds United.

Throughout that time, he was a main fixture in the club's EFL Cup run, starting every game, which saw them knock out the likes of Crystal Palace and Manchester United before falling to Manchester City in the semi-finals.

League-wise, after being brought on after nine minutes for an injured Eros Pisano in their 2-0 away win at Fulham in late October, Magnusson remained in the side, contributing 15 starts throughout the rest of the campaign as the Robins remained a play-off level side, until a poor run of form from March onwards saw them finish 11th.

That following summer,

Hordur Magnusson never lived up to the hype at Bristol City

No one will ever call Magnusson a transfer flop at Bristol City, but given the excitement which surrounded the six-foot-three centre-back when he arrived from Juventus, he wasn't exactly one that got Robins fans excited.

He served his role well at the club, especially in his second season, where he contributed to a miracle cup run and an even more unprecedented league season where the club began to act like true play-off contenders, a role they've held for the majority of the time since, actually culminating in a top six finish in the 2024/25 term for the first time since the 2007/08 campaign.

Ultimately, the rise the Robins were wanting to go on had outgrown Magnusson, and the Icelandic international, who was away representing his country at the Russia World Cup at the time of his move, would have prioritised starts, and thought they would come more regularly at CSKA Moscow.

He became a regular starter at his new club and starred in his side's 3-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League during his first season there.