Bristol City have backed new manager Michael Skubala in the transfer market following his appointment this summer

Bristol City have added a 10th new addition to Michael Skubala’s ranks ahead of their much-anticipated meeting with Pompey this Saturday.

The Robins, who haven’t been afraid to splash the cash this summer following their 12th-place finish in last season’s Championship, have welcomed striker Elijah Adebayo to the club on a two-year deal.

The 28-year-old free agent moves to Ashton Gate following his Luton Town departure at the end of last season.

During his five-and-a-half-year stay with the Hatters, the former Bognor loanee netted 47 goals in 184 appearances and was part of the Luton team that secured promotion to the Premier League in 2023.

Welcoming the forward to the Robins, sporting director James Ellis said: ‘We have really benefited (from) having Elijah around the place.

‘He has a huge amount of experience and he gives us a different dimension to our frontline and added competition in that area as we head towards the end of the transfer window.’

placeholder image — Elijah Adebayo | Getty Images

Adebayo is the third striker Bristol City have added to their ranks this summer and the third to arrive at Ashton Gate from League One.

Dom Ballard and Lorent Tolaj have also made the move from Leyton Orient and Plymouth Argyle respectively. But with 45 league goals between them last season, they haven’t come cheaply. It’s understood the duo have cost the Robins around £9m.

That’s more than Pompey’s entire outlay so far on transfers, with the Blues bringing in nine new signings to date, including Marko Milovanovic, Abu Kamara and Rocco Shein, who have arrived for multi-million-pound figures.

It should also be no surprise, therefore, that City have spent approximately £18m on new additions so far under Ellis and Skubala since their Ashton Gate arrivals earlier this summer.

The likes of former Pompey target Gibson Yah, Sam Greenwood and Sam Tickle have also been recruited for hefty fees.

However, former Fratton favourite Jed Wallace’s arrival on a free transfer from West Brom demonstrates that bargains can also be had in the transfer market.

That expenditure, though, doesn’t guarantee success. Indeed, Pompey’s next opponents are yet to win this season having crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Walsall on the opening day of the season.

That home defeat was then followed by another Ashton Gate loss at the hands of Millwall in the Championship, before Skubala & Co secured a 2-2 draw at Birmingham last time out.

City, therefore, go into Saturday’s game two points behind John Mousinho’s troops in the table.

The game will be Mousinho first against the Robins after he was heavily linked with the Ashton Gate manager’s job following the conclusion of the 2025-26 campaign.

He could apply a bit of pressure on Skabala if he were to make it three home defeats in a row for the former Lincoln boss.

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