"Found an issue with" - Claim made on Bristol City star Anis Mehmeti who "divides opinion" | OneFootball

FLW's resident Bristol City fan pundit has lauded Anis Mehmeti, who has split opinion previously

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…

Anis Mehmeti has blown hot and cold throughout his Bristol City career, although there's a growing school of thought that the Albanian winger is now beginning to find his feet on a consistent basis in the Championship.

Mehmeti joined the Robins on the final day of the 2023 January window from Wycombe Wanderers, where he had impressed greatly after being plucked from the non-league game. According to reports, the deal was successfully brokered when City decided to match Mehmeti's £1million release clause, which represented a record sale for Wycombe.

Having built up a strong body of work at a young age in League One, there was a sense of expectation surrounding Mehmeti's arrival, particularly given that he was brought in to offset the departure of Antoine Semenyo after the talented forward joined Premier League outfit AFC Bournemouth.

Whether the ex-Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur academy player has lived up to the hype just yet is very much open to debate. He added a goal and an assist to his account during the second-half of the 2022/23 campaign but found the back of the net on just four occasions and set up only one throughout the entirety of the previous campaign, where he made 38 league appearances and 22 starts.

It was a disappointing return for Mehmeti in his first full season playing second-tier football with the Robins and unsurprisingly, he remains a polarising figure among supporters. However, he's currently enjoying some fine form and may be going some way to silence his critics.

Anis Mehmeti's 24/25 Bristol City form

Bristol City.

After just 15 matches, the 23-year-old has already equalled his goalscoring return from last time out by scoring four times, including two in his last two before the international break.

It's also worth noting that Mehmeti has excelled against high-calibre sides, which indicates just how much he's developed. The former Chairboys flyer most recently scored consecutively against Sheffield United and Norwich City, while his other two strikes came in victories over Millwall and Middlesbrough.

Barring Norwich, a former club of Mehmeti's at youth level who have endured a recent slump but still possess the quality and credentials at this level to have a strong season, all of his goals have come against sides in the top-eight of the division.

He's not the complete player just yet, of course, but he's an ever-improving one and that may allay some of the criticism that still surrounds him.

Verdict offered on split Bristol City opinions on Anis Mehmeti

We asked our resident Robins fan pundit, Tom Sandy, to name one player at Ashton Gate who splits opinion - and just where he stands on the matter, too.

"He's a bright winger but a lot of fans can be found frustrated with his final product, I don't think he has any assists this season. He's always bright, I think his delivery is a big thing which fans have found an issue with because he'll rarely put in a high-quality cross, always hitting the first man.

"But he is young and there is evidence of him being able to do that, it's just consistency and being confident. I think he's a big confidence player, he's scored a lot of important goals for us and scored a great one against Norwich last weekend.

"I think if he can keep doing that, that's what we need from him. He's more of an inverted winger, we have a more traditional winger on the other side with Yu Hirakawa so he doesn't need to be hitting the byline every time, but maybe a bit more variety.

"I'm a big fan of him, Liam Manning is a big fan of him so that's why he's been given the nod and he's doing so much better now than he was under Nigel Pearson, because he really struggled when he initially came to the club.

"But I think he's really bright, he certainly has an eye for goal but he also has an unpredictability about him that a lot of players don't have, it's something that you need. I think he's a hard worker, he got the interception that led to our second goal against Norwich, I'm a fan of him and I wish for the best for him because he brings a lot to our game."