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Bristol City and England Under-21 defender Lloyd Kelly is the subject of interest from Premier League Southampton.

The Saints have had scouts at Ashton Gate for much of this season to run the rule over the highly promising 20-year-old, who is expected to be named in Aidy Boothroyd's Young Lions side to compete in the upcoming U21 European Championships in Italy and San Marino next month.

Bristol Live understands the Premier League side showed interest in the January transfer window and were quoted a fee of around £15m by the senior Bristol City hierarchy.

The Robins are under no pressure to sell one of their prize assets, and that price tag may now be even higher following the Bristolian's further international appearances and continued development in the Championship.

Indeed, our understanding is that Kelly will likely remain at Ashton Gate this summer, despite interest from other Premier League clubs, which could be accelerated with a fine showing in this summer's tournament if selected.

We understand that Bristol City will reject anything but an extreme bid deemed impossible to turn down, and that Lee Johnson intends to develop Kelly. A player he sees as having the potential to play for the senior national side in the future - and be the first Robin to do so since the great John Atyeo some 60 years ago.

The head coach's promise of a "bold" summer in the transfer market also includes the plan of City holding onto their prized assets, a departure from last summer when they sold Joe Bryan, Bobby Reid and Aden Flint.

Johnson expects to see Kelly switch inside and become a left-sided centre-back permanently within the next 18 months having played left-back for 23 of his 26 Championship starts this season.

City fans who made the trip to the KCOM Stadium for Sunday's final game of the campaign witnessed the start of this experiment as Kelly replaced the injured Adam Webster and then played alongside Tomas Kalas in a back four.

"I thought Lloydy did well," said Johnson of the defender's performance.

"Obviously we believe that he's going to be a top class left-side centre-half. You see his recovery and how quick he is and several nice, little turns he has, but he hasn't really played there all season."

That could change next season with Kelly to get more opportunities in the centre of defence - especially if the club are unable to bring back Tomas Kalas from Chelsea.