"At least £3m" - Rob Dickie and Jason Knight price-tags at Bristol City debated | OneFootball

The Robins pair have been excellent this season, and seemingly are too important to sell.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Bristol City have slowly started to improve under Liam Manning this season, and after a bit of a shaky start, they are looking like one of the Championship's most exciting teams.

Filled to the brim with young, expressive talents, the Robins have started to creep towards the play-off places and could have an outside chance of ending the campaign in the top six if they carry on at their current rate.

The likes of Max Bird and Yu Hirakawa have only strengthened the side this season, with the midfield a particular strong point of this team.

However, defensively, there are also some of the division's better players plying their trade at Ashton Gate, and Bristol City do boast members of their squad that could help bring in significant transfer fees.

Verdict made on Bristol City's best players' price-tags

As a team that is filled with players that have high ceilings in the game, there are certain stars that could command high fees in the coming years, something that has already been seen recently at Bristol City.

Tommy Conway was sold to Middlesbrough in the summer for a fee believed to be £4.5m, money that they will be able to reinvest into the squad further in January. However, there are members of that squad that will only be sold on if a similar price is agreed.

Football League World has asked their Bristol City Fan Pundit, Tom Sandy, which two players he believes are the best at the club currently, and how much they would cost if another team came in for them.

He told FLW: "I think Bristol City’ two best players right now are definitely Jason Knight, our captain. He’s definitely the best player in our midfield. I think that he wins us games sometimes by himself with his work rate, and how good he is on the ball and off the ball. He's fantastic.

"I'm also going to say Rob Dickie because of just how much we missed when he was gone these past few weeks. You can see our defence seems a lot more solid now that he's back in it. Obviously, we're struggling a bit with a full-back crisis at the moment with literally everyone getting injured.

"But I think they've been fantastic, and they’re players that we're not going to be looking to sell.

"Dickie was rated at about £10m by QPR a couple of seasons ago. Obviously, he had a bad season, and QPR had a really bad season, and we managed to acquire him for just £1m, and he's been fantastic since then.

"He was our player of the season last season. But at 28 now, he's a Championship level centre-back, probably. I wouldn't say he's Premier League level, so it's going to be difficult to acquire a high fee for him. But, if Tommy Conway is going to another Championship club for £4.5m, and he's not proven quality like Dickie, obviously he's younger, I think Dickie could go for at least £3m is what I'd say."

Tom continued: "But if I was Bristol City and someone came in and offered £3m for Dickie, I wouldn't accept it because we wouldn't get as good of a player as him for that price. Whether he's worth more than that, I don't think so. I think it would take around £4m for us to sell him, but he's fantastic.

"Knight, club captain, 23 years of age, I think he wouldn't go for less than Conway.

"I would say £4.5m-£5m for Knight. Obviously, if there was less time on his contract, then we would probably sell him for less. But in this current market, with his quality and his youthful exuberance and his importance to the squad being the captain, I wouldn't sell him for less than £4.5m, £5m."

Knight is the future of Bristol City

After signing from Derby County at the start of the 2023/24 campaign, Knight has been arguably Bristol City's best player, and he was rewarded for those performances with the captain's armband.

After struggling to lock down a position at the Rams under Paul Warne, he has proven to be one of the most important cogs in Manning's team, and playing in a slightly deeper role than the one that he had played in during the start of his career.

With over 60 appearances to his name in red-and-white already, there is reason to believe that the future of Bristol City will be built around Knight in the midfield, and he is only improving as time goes on.

The Republic of Ireland international has a contract until 2027, and if the Robins start to become a serious challenger for promotion, then there is no doubt that he will be at Ashton Gate until then, and he can create history in the south-west.