Wells unfazed by transfer talk
Bradford City’s Nahki Wells is taking speculation over a potential move away from Valley Parade “all in stride”.According to English media reports, the 22-year striker is being tracked by Burnley, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth who are said to be keen on securing the Bermudian’s services.Wells’ stock has steadily risen since his arrival at Valley Parade in the summer of 2011 on a free transfer from Carlisle.He leads the Bantams with 25 goals in all competitions so far this season and also helped City reach the League Cup Final where they lost heavily to Premier side Swansea in a lopsided affair at Wembley Stadium.Responding to media speculation linking him to a potential move from Bradford, Wells told The Royal Gazette: “I just take it all with a pinch of salt and not let any of it get to my head because I have seen other players get a bit of speculation and their form dips but with me it’s the absolute opposite. I’m not the one to take it to my head and let it get the better of me ... I use it as something to show me what I’m doing really looks as though it can pay off.“When it’s going well I try and take it (speculation) as a stepping stone really and I want that speculation and want to continue hearing my name linked with other clubs because that means I’m doing well. And when you do well you tend to build a lot of speculation around yourself and some of it is not true.”Wells and his Bantams teammates are currently bracing themselves for Saturday’s League Two Play-Off Final commitment with Northampton Town at Wembley Stadium.The occasion will mark City’s second trip to the iconic stadium in less than three months following February’s heavy League Cup Final defeat against Swansea.Even though City have enjoyed the better of their League Two rivals in recent times, Wells and his teammates won’t be taking anything for granted against the Cobblers.“They have been a dominant side in the league and have had momentum for quite some time,” Wells said. “The only advantage we have over them is that we have got the better of them four or five times consecutively, so we are going into the game confident knowing we can beat them. But we won’t go into the match overconfident because we know what they are capable of, and every time we have played them it’s a been a tough game and every game has been decided by one goal.”Wells, who is understood to be valued at £600,000, feels the Bantams are more deserving of promotion than the Cobblers.“Northampton have had a great season and probably should’ve got automatic promotion,” he said. “But if you compare the two clubs and the amount of progress we’ve made this season from last season it’s just been immense, and I just think we deserve it.“The manager, players and especially the fans deserve it because we are a big club in League Two and we just need something to get us going, and this promotion could get this club going again.”Wells also feels his club were unfortunate not to have secured automatic promotion to League One next season.“I think we threw it away really from snatching third,” he said. “If we would’ve beat Chesterfield and got just a little bit of luck against Rotherham we would’ve been the team to get automatic promotion.“But we got into the play-off with some form and got all the way to the final, and I’m sure our momentum will just carry us through. We will go out there with a game plan and leave everything on the pitch.”