Bristol City boss Keith Millen says he’s hopeful of signing Town striker Jon Stead. The Robins have been chasing the 27-year-old for some weeks now and have agreed a £225,000 fee with the Blues.

Millen said: "He's someone we've been looking to sign for a while and it looks like we are close now. We hope to conclude a deal early next week."

Town manager Roy Keane confirmed that Bristol City’s bid had been accepted after Saturday’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace and said that there could be news before Monday.

However, Stead is unlikely to leave before the Blues have signed a new striker with the club short on attacking players at present with Connor Wickham injured, Jon Walters and Pablo Couñago moved on and Andros Townsend facing a three-match ban for his sending off.

Keane says he is targeting two attacking players, including Wigan’s Jason Scotland, whose move has been put on hold by the Latics, a defender and a midfielder.

Meanwhile, Jon Walters, who made his debut for Stoke today, says he's not interested in contiuning his row with Town boss Roy Keane: “I’m not looking for a slanging match, even though the things that were said were not wholly true.

“It doesn’t fuss me one way or the other. I don’t mind what Mr Keane says or will say. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Ipswich and have a lot of friends at the club and in the area.

“It’s a wrench to leave in terms of that, but now I’m looking forward to the challenge of doing well at Stoke.”

Photo: Action Images

TrumptonBlue added 21:02 - Aug 21 Boo.
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jas0999 added 21:07 - Aug 21 Stead is very hard working - but doesn't actually score that many goals. That said he leads the line very well. Bottom line is he is on a massive wage and assuming we sign other strikers he is a very expensive option.
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haynes_is_a_ledgend added 21:13 - Aug 21 Dont go, your too good to go
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danknott added 21:13 - Aug 21 just as im beginning to like the man!!
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martleshamitfc added 21:23 - Aug 21 Would just like to say how professional Stead has been over past few weeks, he has played his part in our successful start to the season but we need a more prolific goalscorer so hopefully either Scotland , Chopra or someone similar will be signed before he goes. At least he can go with his head held high unlike Jon Walters.
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PartyDaz added 21:27 - Aug 21 Take him. But let us have Brett Pitman you greedy buggars!
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Jimmy86 added 22:03 - Aug 21 cant believe we still even thinkin about letting Stead go, from whats he has done for us so far this season its unbelivable. He played awesome again today and when he went off he had ran himself into the ground. His Hold up play was brilliant and unlike Priskin, chases lost causes and puts in a real shift every game he wears a town shirt. Shame he isn't a bit better in the air bearin in mind his height. Will be really disappointed if he does leave, plus we dont have any replacements lined up either !!!

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truethurstonblue added 22:07 - Aug 21 We must hold firm and bring in at least two strikers before he lets Stead go.....can't rely on Priskin can we!!
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titanicclown added 22:17 - Aug 21 Why?
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Mark added 22:28 - Aug 21 I agree that we need two new strikers before Stead can be allowed to leave. Yes, Stead's wage is high but so also will be any decent strikers capable of playing at Championship level unless they come from a less wealthy league (League One/Two or overseas). Maybe Adam Le Fondre is worth a look, as the 23-year-old has a good goal scoring record for Rotherham in League Two and he scored four in one game today! Well done to Walters for keeping comments to himself. It actually comes across as quite professional. Dirty linen should not be aired in public.

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JayITFC added 22:44 - Aug 21 If any other club were selling Stead they'd be looking for a fee around 750k. What's wrong with Clegg & Evans!?
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mawitham added 23:03 - Aug 21 I wonder how much Clegg is on a week? All the talk of saving wages on non performing players I bet Clegg is on a 6 figure salary and he doesn't seem to be adding any value to the club??
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mickeyjb added 23:11 - Aug 21 Agreed clegg needs to do some explaining and maybe justifying some of that money that the club pays him. We've had an excellent start to the season but there's a long way to go yet.
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bluechick added 23:20 - Aug 21 £225k? what will that buy as a replacement? keep him he can still do a good job for us
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Ipswich24 added 00:06 - Aug 22 Right I am really going to kick off this is unbliveable and makes no sense at all tell me if we can't afford to keep stead how can bristol afford him? They are no beter off than us and if we are replacing him. Your telling me the replacements we are going to sign are not going to be on same or more money! And to give him away for peanuts cleggevans what the hell are u doing you have no idea I know an honest good player when I see one I would have stead over priskin any day of week please steady don't go you have won all fans and keano over and bristol will have right steal!just mess off clegg you posh t*** what are you trying to do if you are reading this jon stead I have real respect for what you have been doing for us brilliant

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Deano69 added 00:29 - Aug 22 This is madness. It is worrying to think that despite our dire need of forwards we feel the need to sell another attacking player for such a low fee. How many reasonable forwards have we seen for sale at this sort of money?? Surely he is better than nothing!!! We have had a great start to the season, but looking at the growing injury list this season could be decided on just how much depth we have in the squad and not just the starting eleven. I get the feeling keano had done his bit, much more chairman/board nonsense like this and I can see him walking!!!! C.O.Y.B

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Ipswich24 added 00:47 - Aug 22 Right I am really going to kick off this is unbliveable and makes no sense at all tell me if we can't afford to keep stead how can bristol afford him? They are no beter off than us and if we are replacing him. Your telling me the replacements we are going to sign are not going to be on same or more money! And to give him away for peanuts cleggevans what the hell are u doing you have no idea I know an honest good player when I see one I would have stead over priskin any day of week please steady don't go you have won all fans and keano over and bristol will have right steal!just mess off clegg you posh t*** what are you trying to do if you are reading this jon stead I have real respect for what you have been doing for us brilliant

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PimsOclock added 00:58 - Aug 22 Something good is about to happen!! Scotland and Chopra by the end of the week or my name isn't Marcus Evans!!
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oldmanblues added 01:26 - Aug 22 Dont understand why he'd want to leave for Bristol. We're 5th in the table and he's getting 1st team football at the moment and Bristol is 18th!!!
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ernie added 04:36 - Aug 22 completely agree with the above comments. It seems madness to be letting steady go now when he has been our best player in almost all of the three games we've played this season and has shown an excellent attitude throughout.225K seems a ridiculously low figure for someone who looks like he will feature in a lot of games for us this season and don't understand who we will be left with upfront.Connor is still a long way off from being back. We would still need to bring in two quality strikers to replace those who have left, when we could just keep Stead and buy a winger/striker such as McCormack, who still sat on the bench for Cardiff today. Surely that is a deal just waiting to be done? Why are we determined to sell off our entire team this season without any permanent replacements? Either way, the tide has definitely turned in terms of spending at the club with us being unable to spend anymore until the books are balanced and players sold and the wage bill reduced. Obviously we'd all rather see our club run in this way but just think where we would be if we'd bought wisely in the past instead of dropping huge amounts on unproven players or those that turned out to be not worth it (Martin, Priskin, Lisbie) and large wage bills which now have to be reduced (Stead) Although this inability to get deals done is probably because we're being careful to not get screwed again!

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GiveusaWave added 05:19 - Aug 22 £225,000 for Stead is an excellent signing for Bristol City and a terrible sale for us. Surely more discussions could have gone on in the background to make Steady a little happier to stay? It would be interesting to know what the Boards expectations were for this season (after our poor league position last year). My guess is that they would settle for a season of mediocrity with no hint of relegation. They are probably still questioning some of Keanes big buys (Leadbitter and Edwards-who are both performing well at the moment..). They probably think that Keane can get this mid-table position with the players he has (some of the youngsters have been excellent so far-but can't be expected to be EVERY game!). I still think we will get Jason Scotland (reasonably good signing) - but if we end up with Kerry Baptiste and Jack Midson we will have very low wages for these players (granted)-but can expect nothing more than an aimless season. I would take Stead over Midson any day,- and Walters over Baptiste....

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Burno132 added 06:38 - Aug 22 It does seem strange that we're of-loading all these players who appear to be on big wages whilst failing to attract replacements. Are the owners getting the books in order ready for a take-over? Also, on Bristol City, they seem to be racking up a huge wage bill which could spell trouble in the future. How much must they have offered Brett Pitman for him to turn down Blackpool? I'm truly confused by all this.

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Millsey added 07:52 - Aug 22 I've always rated him but how many of you were slating nim down last year saying he was useless? his wage bill will be at least £600,000 a year? if the 12.000 a week is true.
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jjoe_underwood1 added 08:19 - Aug 22 Makes sense to get rid of Stead. I've just seen on bbc gossip column that we've bid 4 mill for Chopra but it is mail on Sunday :(. Wouldn't let Steady go until somebody else has signed though and think 225k is rather cheap. Starting to get optimistic about this season, just need a couple of forwards and cover in centre mid to sign and we're looking really solid!

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Ipswich24 added 08:44 - Aug 22 Listen clegg sell him to a bloody rival for peanuts you are a joke dig your heels in stead and stay Nobody has to leave if you go as well our squad really will be steadbare! Jokes apart this is a right Discrace why on earth we always got to go for premiership rejects they have no ambition or appetite to Drop into championship why not sign the likes of pitman austin or lambert look at the scum signing Holt jackson bristol city with maynard these players are relitively cheap and have the hunger Why oh why can nobody see this these sort of players would love play for us remember our signings of mcgreal, johnson, holland,stewart Or cheap foriegners eg tarrico,petta,peralta,thetis what has happened to our scouting network Hey all this just makes me so bloody angry keane go out to the lower leagues get some scouts out There and find the gems

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