Bristol City are set to beat Derby County to the signature of Oxford United’s Callum O’Dowda according to a report from HITC Sport.
There has been plenty of speculation around the 21-year-old’s future after he had a superb season for the U’s last season after scoring eight goals on the way to their promotion from League 2 and a Johnstone Paints Trophy. His form then led to a call up to the Republic of Ireland squad and even got his first cap in the warm ups for Euro 2016, though he didn’t make it into the final squad.
Speculation further increased when O’Dowda didn’t travel with the rest of the squad for their tour of Spain, though the club insisted that was down to illness. He is set to join up with the rest of the team when he as fully recovered.
Many reports had suggested that Derby County were the team most keen on signing O’Dowda with Nigel Pearson wanting to make him his first signing since he was appointed their head coach. However this reports suggests that Bristol City are in fact leading the race to sign the Irish winger, with their head coach Lee Johnson believed to be a long term admirer of the player.
