Bristol City continue to be awash with young talent. With the return of young loan talents Liam Walsh, Joe Morrell, Max O'Leary, Taylor Moore, Hakeeb Adelakun, Sammie Szmodics and Antoine Semenyo from League One, the numbers for next season have already swollen.
And that's after Jonny Smith, Tyreeq Bakinson, Cam Pring, George Nurse and Rory Holden have also returned from time spent in League Two, with the highly rated James Morton, Freddie Hinds and Jojo Wollacott also having spells at other league clubs earlier in the campaign.
The future looks bright for City who are yet to officially announce the first professional deals handed out to Sam and Callum Pearson or Barney Soady (as reported previously by us).
But Bristol Live understands that the Robins are set to lose young prospect Marcus Day this summer, who will pursue a career elsewhere as he bids for first team football.
Clubs in League One have been in touch and Day could well be playing for another league outfit soon. The 19-year-old has impressed when we've watched the attacking midfielder play for the U23s, although Bristol City do have good depth in that position, such as the aforementioned Sam Pearson (who was on the bench for the senior side in the FA Cup last season) and others.
Meanwhile fellow midfielder Jamie Taylor has been released from the Robins and - as with every player who leaves the club at this time - he will now play in trials to gain a new club.
There is significant interest in the box-to-box powerful midfielder, who may have been unfortunate to not continue at the Robins due much to the competition in the midfield ranks currently. Josh Owers - son of Gary - is set to continue with the Robins too.
The rapid Vince Harper will remain too, with the wing-back a very good prospect to play on the left side.
One player with an exciting future is Ayman Benarous and the recent England U17 player is a talent to keep an eye on - especially as he was name-checked - along with the talented Marlee Francois - by head coach Lee Johnson a few months ago.
The pair were mentioned as the head coach wondered if there might be a similar talent to Birmingham City's Jude Bellingham in the ranks at Ashton Gate.
And there might yet be, with more skillful youngsters looking to break through the ranks and follow in the footsteps of Bobby Reid, Joe Bryan and Lloyd Kelly.
"For me there is a great chance of a [Jude] Bellingham coming through at this type of club, and we just name-checked two there: Ayman Benarous and Marlee Francois who have trained with us and not looked out of place in the first team," Johnson told Bristol Live back in March.
"With a training ground and 16-year-olds on site learning from the senior players and being pulled up into first-team sessions and that is only going to accelerate it - coaches understanding the methodology of the first team; sessions being designed around that - whereas on a split site naturally it's a bit more difficult and there's a bit more integration time before you become a first-team regular," Johnson added with reference to the new training ground being built.
