REPUBLIC OF IRELAND international Callum O’Dowda looks to be on the verge of leaving Bristol City.
The club’s manager Lee Johnson told BBC Radio Bristol that O’Dowda has declined the offer of a new contract, having initially been receptive to the idea.
Next season will be the final of O’Dowda’s present contract, meaning the club face either selling him this summer or losing him on a free transfer in a year’s time.
“The truth of the matter is, we all wanted and want to sign Callum on a new contract”, said Johnson.
“We started the negotiations, the negotiations seemed positive, he then came back with what he wanted [via] his representatives. We agreed to that, at which point Callum said he wasn’t sure. At that point, something’s happened, something’s changed…he changed his mind, he simply changed his mind.”
O’Dowda joined the club from Oxford United in 2016, having made his senior Irish debut a month earlier. He has gone on to make more than 100 appearances for Bristol City, becoming one of the most highly-regarded attacking players in the second-tier in the process.
Johnson also responded to a story in last weekend’s Sunday Times, which reported that O’Dowda felt “frozen out” of the club for refusing to sign a new contract.
The player hasn’t made an appearance for Bristol City since March, having sustained a knee ligament injury. The Sunday Times story reports that O’Dowda has been fit for some time, however.
“He’s never been frozen out”, said Johnson.
“In terms of Callum, the injury he sustained, he needs to try it now, properly; we’ve all had injuries, I was a player myself.
Sometimes young players they want to be 100 per cent fit. Particularly with knee ligaments, you don’t get that. Sometimes you have to play with a little bit of pain as the ligaments heal. It was only really the last two games of the season that Callum was actually truly fit. He’d had four or five days training before that, I thought about putting him on the bench but then we won at Millwall and you go with the same group.
“The contract situation is completely different.”
Johnson also confirmed that the club would not stand in O’Dowda’s way should he choose to leave the club, while hinting he us subject to interest from the Premier League.
“There are no personal issues, no freezing out, I’ve got nothing but respect for him.
“He’s a good student, good player, he’s an Ireland international and he’s a type we want to build around but at the same time, I’m a custodian of the job and I have to do the right thing by the team.
“If that means that we move Callum on, and he gets his dream move, then so be it. We’ll reinvest and go again.
“He’s got a contract so the options are: sell now, Callum sees his contract out and goes on a free or Callum signs a new deal, but it won’t stop him anyway from going to the Premier League because Bristol City don’t do that.”
O’Dowda is currently among the Irish squad at a training camp in Portugal, and will likely play a part in next month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Denmark and Gibraltar.
