"I think it's too high" - £4.5m Tommy Conway fee questioned as Middlesbrough sign Bristol City ace | OneFootball

Middlesbrough have signed striker Tommy Conway from Bristol City.

Tommy Conway has finally completed his move away from Bristol City, having signed for fellow Championship club Middlesbrough.

According to The Northern Echo, the 22-year-old has joined Boro for a fee in the region of £4.5m, with potential performance-based add-ons also reportedly included in the agreement between the two clubs.

Conway was forced to train with Bristol City's under-21s earlier in the summer after refusing to sign a new contract at Ashton Gate, and has been the subject of speculation for much of the transfer window.

The Scotland international, who was included in Steve Clarke's squad for Euro 2024, had been linked with moves to Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers, but has now linked up with Michael Carrick at Middlesbrough as the former Manchester United midfielder prepares to try and guide Boro back to the top flight this season.

The departure of Conway leaves the Robins with Fally Mayulu, Sinclair Armstrong, Nakhi Wells and Harry Cornick as forward options for the 2024/25 campaign.

Fan pundit gives verdict on Tommy Conway's departure from Bristol City

Football League World's Bristol City fan pundit, Tom Sandy, believes that the Robins have done well to receive as much money as they have done for the sale of Conway, especially considering that he has been out of the first-team picture recently.

"The fee is rumoured to be around £4.5m, although obviously, as it is with modern football, it was an undisclosed fee," said Sandy.

"If it is £4.5m, I think we have got a fantastic deal to be honest. I did not think he would go for that much. I thought he would go for in the region of £2m or £3m.

"£4.5m is probably what he is worth, but when a player is forced out of training, and he is training with the under-21s, he's not in the squad registration, he's not going to play for the club, you have to feel like a fee of £4.5m is a very good deal.

"Especially for how I personally thought he played last season, I didn't think he was the best of players. Obviously, and I feel like I've said it a million times, he had very little goals from open play last season. He scored a fair few penalties, but other than that, he didn't score that many, so I think £4.5m is a really good deal. If anything, I think it's too high. "Of course it is a shame to see him go, he's a boyhood City player. I remember when he first played, first scored, he said about how much of a dream it was to play on the pitch. "You can't buy a player who comes up through the club like that and breaks into the first team, you can't buy that connection with the fans that he obviously had, so it's a shame to see him go, of course, but I think we got a good deal for him. "At this point in time, with everything that's gone on, with how long this has been dragged out, the season has started and we knew he was going to leave since the Euros, so I am glad that it's over.

"It's a brilliant fee for the player."

Bristol City have handled the sale of Tommy Conway well

Considering that Conway's deal was set to expire next summer, Bristol City have handled this situation well.

The club brought in Mayulu and Armstrong to replace Conway in advance, meaning that Liam Manning can continue his work without needing to worry about finding a new striker after the first game of the Championship season has already been played.

The Robins have waited until they received a respectable fee for a player who wanted to leave, so they can now look forward, and potentially reinvest some of the money in other areas of the pitch.