Nahki Wells will remain at Bristol City after the club rejected two offers from Sky Bet Championship rivals Cardiff City to secure the out-of-favour striker’s services on loan during the January transfer window, which closed yesterday.

The Welsh side were looking to replace striker Kieffer Moore, who submitted a transfer request and joined promotion candidates Bournemouth, with Bermuda captain Wells considered as a suitable option.

Cardiff first went in for Wells after their 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday before submitting an improved proposal offering to cover a greater portion of Wells’s salary yesterday morning.

However, City still refused to budge and made it clear that the forward would be allowed to leave Ashton Gate on a permanent transfer only. They also rejected a Cardiff offer for midfielder Kasey Palmer, while a Nottingham Forest bid for striker Antoine Semenyo was turned down.

“I’ve got no intention of helping anybody, players who are contracted to us will remain contracted to us until we decide that is no longer the case, so you can speculate all you want,” Nigel Pearson, the City manager, told reporters responding to questions on Wells’s future with the club after his team’s 2-2 draw with Preston North End on Saturday.

According to reports, Wells, whose contract with City expires next summer, also rejected a move to another Championship team, Millwall.

Meanwhile, Cardiff manager Steve Morison admitted that he had been looking to bring in Wells, but added that new arrival Jordan Hugill, who scored on debut just hours after his transfer was announced, changed their approach.

He also secured the services of Middlesbrough’s Uche Ikpeazu on loan for the rest of the season.

“Yes, we have inquired about lots of people, but I’ve got the one I wanted,” Morison said. “I inquired for him, I couldn’t have him, so then I inquired about Uche Ikpeazu for example. “By the time I got back inside there was a thing being released that we were about to sign Uche.”

Wells, who did not make it off the bench for the third time in the past four matches in City’s weekend fixture at Deepdale, will have to continue his fight for a place in Pearson’s frontline for the rest of the season.

He has scored one goal and provided one assist in 22 appearances this campaign, having ended the previous season as the club’s leading scorer with ten goals.

His lone strike came when he netted the winning goal against Queens Park Rangers in September.

Wells has scored a total of 17 goals and provided seven assists since joining City for £4 million on a 3½-year deal from Burnley during the January transfer window in 2020.

He joined Burnley from Huddersfield Town for £5 million at the start of 2017-18 season and made ten substitute appearances for top-flight team before going on loan at Championship side QPR, where he went on to score 15 goals in all competitions, and eventually sold to City.

His last start came in a 1-0 FA Cup defeat at home against Fulham on January 8, and he has not started in the Championship since a 3-0 defeat away to Birmingham City on November 2.

Cash-strapped City did manage to conduct some business in the market, with 33-year-old Swiss centre back Timm Klose putting pen to paper on a short-term deal that will keep him at the club until the end of the season after he initially impressed on trial.