No need to sell ‘prize jewel’ Wells

Bradford City say they have no need to sell ‘prize jewel’ Nahki Wells but admitted a ‘stupid offer’ could see him leave.

The Bermudian striker was the club’s top scorer last season and was on target as the Bantams beat Northampton Town in the play-off final at Wembley to seal promotion to League One.

Along with strike partner James Hanson, Wells, 23, is viewed as an integral part of a side that also reached the final of the Capital One Cup, only to be soundly beaten by Premier League Swansea City.

Joint-chairman Mark Lawn told the Bradford Telegraph & Argus they would have little choice but to accept a large offer for the hugely-promising former Dandy Town forward — who has interest Leeds United, Huddersfield and Burnley — but said the club are under no pressure to sell.

He said: “They are prize jewels and we wouldn’t want to lose them.

“Financially we don’t need to sell. We’ve got them on contracts that we can afford so it’s not going to kill us to keep them here.

“If we get a stupid offer, then don’t get me wrong we’d certainly have to look at it. But it would have to be one where Phil (Parkinson) is happy to turn round and say ‘I can replace him’.

“If we were to let either one of them go, we’d have to get enough money to be able to replace them. That’s up to Phil, not me, and he would have to tell me what he wants.

“But everyone knows our position. That’s why all the usual tyre kickers haven’t bothered coming along because they know we’d give them short shrift.”

Lawn concedes Wells would probably have been sold if the past campaign had not gone so well.

He said: “Nahki was in our mind when we took the risk (with the budget) last year. If it hadn’t worked out by January, then we would look to move him on.
“But to be fair, it did go so well so we didn’t have to do that.

“Nahki’s tied down for two years after this and James has still got one more. We’ll be talking to him at some stage but there’s no rush.

“They are both level-headed about it. They realise that Phil has developed them and can see they’ve come on a lot.

“We’ve managed to keep the team together and I get the impression from both Nahki and James that they want to come in next year and improve even more under this coaching staff.

“They are still quite young and on that level where they can improve a hell of a lot. Let’s hope we can get that out of them.”