Bristol City cannot let £9k-a-week star leave Ashton Gate | OneFootball

Bristol City must ensure that they can keep hold of former Wycombe Wanderers attacking midfielder Anis Mehmeti.

Bristol City have had a bright start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign, and there will be a hope that they can kick on this season, but the future of Anis Mehmeti is something that must soon be clarified by the Robins.

Having finished sixth last season, Bristol City suffered a 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United in the Championship play-off semi-finals, but despite its ending, it was still a season that represented major progress for the Robins.

They were then dealt the blow of having manager Liam Manning poached by Norwich City, and the perhaps risky appointment of former Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber may not have excited all supporters.

However, Struber’s opening game as City boss saw them get some revenge on the Blades with a 4-1 victory at Bramall Lane, and they have collected eight points from their opening four matches of the campaign, with the personnel appearing to suit the Struber style of football.

A concern for the second tier outfit will be that one of the key men appearing most suited to their cause is out of contract at the end of this season, and they must be becoming desperate to get Mehmeti tied down.

Bristol City must rectify the future of Anis Mehmeti

Having come through the academies of Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City; Mehmeti had to begin his career in non-league with Woodford Town before being given a chance by Wycombe Wanderers and then going on to shine for the Chairboys.

In the January transfer window of 2023, Bristol City brought Mehmeti in for an undisclosed fee that was a club-record sale for Wycombe, as they sought to harness his obvious quality in the Championship.

After a slow-ish start to life at Ashton Gate, Mehmeti has gone on to grow into an extremely exciting talent, and someone who flourishes in the three-at-the-back system at City, given a freedom and license as one of the attackers behind a striker.

He notched 12 goals in the second-tier last season playing as an attacking midfielder and the Islington-born man appears ready to kick on again this season, having already scored twice under Struber.

Playing with an energy and intensity to match his undoubted technical quality and skill, Mehmeti is maturing and seemingly a perfect fit for Struber and his high pressing style of football that can rely upon moments of magic in the final third.

However, with Bristol City aiming to be ambitious and finally get themselves in the Premier League, there will be a major concern that the Albania international could depart for free next summer, or potentially be sold in the winter.

It is unlike Bristol City not to cash in on key men like Anis Mehmeti

Like a lot of the more progressive and sustainable clubs in the EFL, selling on key talent for the right price is built into the model at Bristol City, and they have appeared to make it a thing that they let a prized asset go for a substantial fee each summer.

The summer of 2024 saw the departure of Tommy Conway to Middlesbrough, a year after Alex Scott moved to AFC Bournemouth, who had followed Antoine Semenyo to the Cherries, with the Ghanaian moving down to the south coast in 2022.

There was no major sale in 2021, but that is because it did follow the 2019/20 season which saw both Adam Webster and Lloyd Kelly moved on in the summer before Josh Brownhill moved in the winter.

There may be a view that they now don’t need to sell, but they are also a smart club that are unlikely to be willing to allow a player of such value to them and to the market, such as Mehmeti, leave on a free transfer, especially after the outlay they put into him.

Mehmeti, who reportedly earns £9,000 per week according to Capology, is a crucial man for Struber, the club and his system, and the primary focus will be on ensuring he signs a new contract to protect his value for City.

There must be a resistance to the sale in the January transfer window, too, because if he can continue on his upward trajectory then it could well be that he is the point of difference in terms of promotion.