Exclusive: Bristol City Open Talks with Mark Sykes Amid Fear of Summer Mass Exodus

Bristol City have opened contract talks with Mark Sykes amid a number of extension offers following the club’s strong start to the season, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.

The Robins are desperate to tie down a number of their key stars who are out of contract at the end of the season. 

Most notably playmaker Anis Mehmeti and defender Zak Vyner could both leave for free at the end of the campaign.

Technical director Brian Tinnion revealed last month that Mehmeti and Vyner, which SportsBoom exclusively reported back in August, had been offered new deals at the club.

And our sources have been told the focus has now shifted to the rest of the squad.

Midfielder Sykes, whose deal runs out in June, signed a 12-month contract extension in February after being linked with a move to Stoke City during last winter’s transfer window and it is understood there is another extension on the table for him. 

Mass Exodus Coming? 

The Robins have never been ones to splash the cash, but showed ambition with the appointment of respected coach Gerhard Struber.

And they have made a reasonably strong start to the season and sit within touching distance of the play-off places.

However, their fine start to the campaign has alerted the vultures to the plethora of players who become free agents next summer, or who will only have a year left come the end of the season.

Speaking last month, Tinnion said: “I think it's really important if we can't invest, that we keep the squad together.”

“We have secured Rob [Dickie], we have offered Zak Vyner a new contract, Anis Mehmeti has been offered a new contract and we've been in talks last week about extending a few who have two years left.”

“We are looking to keep this squad together because it's a really good group of players. If we can't invest we have to try and keep what we have got until we can sell them on to reinvest.”